Broken
by Tanguay18
Summary: Our favorite CSIs are called to investigate the scene of a deadly car accident. One little girl survives, but loses her entire family. What will become of her? What will become of Grissom and Sara's strained relationship?
1. Three Fatalities

**Disclaimer: **I do not own CSI nor do I own CBS, so don't sue me because I'm not worth much at the moment. ;)

**Summary: **Our favorite CSIs are called to the scene of a deadly car accident. They have to figure out what exactly happened and in the course of their investigation Sara gets attached to one of the survivors, a broken 3 year old girl who loses her entire family. At home, Sara is having some relationship problems with Grissom and something has to change. Starts out more team/case oriented, but eventually focuses a lot more on GSR (but there is a good case later in the story).

**Additional Story Note:** The car accident which takes place in this story is loosely based on a tragically true story which took place in the town where I live. A Ford F-650 truck was sideswiped by a CR-V and swerved into oncoming traffic, hitting a few cars and pulverizing a Chrysler 300 where only one person survived (though it didn't look like anyone should have). All of the characters and vehicles involved in the story are fictionalized.

**Chapter One: Three Fatalities**

Sara Sidle and Gil Grissom arrived to the scene of a grisly car accident only to realize that rescue workers were still on scene, trying to extract all the victims. They had to stand back and watch as people ran frantically about the scene, loading bloodied bodies into ambulances and one into an air ambulance. Finally, Detective Jim Brass approached them looking rather grim.

"Hey guys, as you can see, this one's a mess. You may want to call in for more backup. There are four vehicles involved, eight victims have been extracted and they're still working on freeing two more," the detective sighed, "so far we have one known fatality."

"Any idea exactly what happened here?" Grissom asked.

"Preliminary eyewitness report is that the big truck was heading southbound when an SUV swerved into his lane. He tried to avoid the collision and swerved into the northbound lanes where he sideswiped the Mercedes and then plowed head on into what I'm told used to be a Honda Accord," Brass explained, "there were two kids in the back seat."

One glance in the direction of where he gestured explained it all. There was a hunk of broken glass and metal that looked like it might once have been a car. Clearly it had taken the brunt of the impact and it looked as though no one would be coming out of it alive. As Brass had been speaking, a body was extracted from the driver's seat and firefighters were attempting to remove more people. Even the veteran detective and CSI were taken back by how badly the car was damaged. Sara was very nearly in tears just at the sight of the Honda as it was no longer recognizable as a car. She'd been to her share of car accident scenes, but this car was the worst yet.

The trio stood silently waiting for their time to get to work. Grissom had called Catherine, Warrick, Nick and Greg to the scene as soon as they finished their own cases. Until the rescuers were finished with their work, there was not much for the CSIs to do anyway so it wouldn't hurt to wait for backup. The road was closed in both directions for several blocks and the police were taking eyewitness statements to get a description of the SUV that had started this all as it had fled the scene.

Finally another body was taken out of the wreckage of the Honda and placed into a body bag. That brought the body count to two and it would likely climb to at least four because it didn't look like anyone could survive the wreckage of the Accord. After what had seemed an eternity of waiting, the CSIs were clear to begin investigating the scene. Grissom instructed Sara to join him in just taking a bunch of general photographs in the southbound lanes and then move gradually along the path of the accident to the final resting position of the Dodge truck, Mercedes convertible and Honda sedan.

Catherine showed up on the scene, "Hi Grissom. This looks pretty intense. Where do you want me?"

"I guess you can start processing the Mercedes, Sara is going to take the truck and I'm going to start in on the Honda," Grissom explained, "the basic scenario is that someone in the southbound lanes caused the truck to swerve into the northbound lanes where it sideswiped the convertible and then crushed the other car."

"Ouch, any survivors come out of there?" Catherine pointed to the Accord.

"Two bodies came out and two were transported to the hospital. I'm guessing neither one of them will make it," Grissom shrugged, "no word on any other injuries."

"Okay. Oh I heard from Nick, Warrick and Greg before I got here. They're wrapping up their case and they should be here within half an hour," she told the supervisor.

"Good," he nodded, "this one could take a while and the mayor will get on us to re-open the roads as soon as possible."

Catherine moved towards the Mercedes convertible and began snapping pictures. There was damage all along the driver's side of the car including lots of scratches and dents. A quick glance in the car told her that the impact had been enough to trigger the airbags. It was consistent with the story because the car was traveling at easily 40MPH on this stretch of the road when it was suddenly swiped by a truck going the opposite direction. Behind the car was a pair of skid marks which indicated that the driver slammed on their brakes after the collision.

After collecting lots of little bits and pieces of evidence (of which there was no shortage from a multi-car accident), Catherine moved to the interior of the vehicle. She noted blood on the airbag that had deployed in front of the driver and took a sample. It was unlikely that they'd need to use the blood to determine who was driving, but it was always best to be thorough.

Nick, Greg and Warrick finally crossed the crime scene tape and took in the accident scene. There was a fairly large area of the street blocked off in both directions and they knew there were probably fatalities. It was policy to investigate the scene immediately if there was suspicion of drugs and alcohol or a fatality. Judging by the appearance of the car Grissom was poring over, fatalities seemed likely.

"Hey Boss," Warrick greeted after they got a quick briefing from Catherine.

"Oh good you guys are here," Grissom straightened up, "auto transport is about to come and start collecting cars. The sooner we finish the on-scene processing the better. Nick, why don't you go see if Sara or Catherine needs assistance? Warrick, you can join me on this car and Greg, you go scour the southbound lanes. Eyewitnesses say that a red SUV initiated the whole crash and fled the scene. That was over on the other side of the median."

"Will do," Nick nodded and ambled over to the female CSIs to see if either needed assistance.

"For once, I'm glad to be getting the boring part of this investigation," Greg said, eyeing the wrecked sedan and then the other cars, "whoever got their Mercedes damaged is going to be pissed. That's a brand new car and I think the SL class cars run around a hundred grand."

"Greg, how do you know how much a Mercedes costs?" Warrick raised an eyebrow.

"Wishful thinking. What can I say, I like nice cars and I was just curious how much one of those things would run me if I ever struck it rich. You know they wouldn't even let me test drive one unless I gave them some serious collateral," the young CSI shrugged.

"I wouldn't let you take one of those things out either," Warrick ruffled his spiky hair, "you just look like trouble waiting to happen."

"Thanks a lot, man," Greg stalked off to begin his part of the investigation.

The ring of Grissom's cell phone prevented Warrick from asking where to start. He looked over the crushed car and shook his head. He could see a lot of blood inside the car and the entire passenger compartment looked ruined. The car had been clearly crushed as there was no structural integrity left where the passengers once sat.

Grissom sighed as he hung up his cell, "Sounds like we're up to three fatalities now. The little boy that they airlifted to the hospital from this car didn't make it."

"Damn," Warrick said, "and it seems to have been all set off by some careless driving. Maybe someone was in too much of a hurry to get somewhere. It seems like everyone is these days."

"Whatever the reason, I'm sure we'll find it out. Unless of course the driver of the SUV that started this whole thing is an even bigger coward than just leaving the scene and flees the country or destroys the evidence. Remember that case last year of the gang member who shot that movie star? He burned the car that he was shooting from and it was all over the news. Last week in Henderson, some guy hit a kid and ran from the scene. The police found his car burnt to a crisp in an alley," Grissom shook his head.

"And when this story hits the news tonight, as it undoubtedly will, you're afraid our guy will have the same idea?" Warrick asked.

"Basically," Grissom glanced up at the reporters who had shown up on the scene, "they're like vultures flocking to a carcass in the desert."

"Anytime someone is killed, they're all over it. Especially now that one of the dead is a little boy," Warrick stated.

"About the only thing they're good for is to flash the information of the guy who ran from the scene. Someone will probably recognize the car and maybe one of the witnesses got a license plate number," Grissom conceded, "or else he'll know that the heat is on and do something stupid."

The CSIs spent a couple more hours investigating the scene and collecting as much evidence as they could. The cars were transported back to the crime lab and would be available for further investigation as necessary. Grissom sent Catherine and Sara to the hospital to check in on the other victims of the accident. The guys headed back to the lab to begin processing the masses of evidence they had gathered.

A/N: So in my entire life I'd never been in a car accident. As this story was nearly finished, I was driving my Honda Accord through a parking lot when I got hit by a big white truck. It was a slow speed collision so I wasn't hurt, but there was a pretty big dent in my rear quarter panel. Talk about your freaky coincidences, I'm writing a story about a Honda Accord getting hit by a big white truck and then I get hit by one in my Honda Accord!


	2. Someone Will Pay

**A/N: **All mistakes in this story are my own. I would like to specially thank my friend, Demented Scream, for her help in reading the story, giving me feedback and keeping me motivated to write more. The story is currently near completion, many many chapters down the road. I've always posted a story as I was writing it and then run into a dead end, so posting a story when it's almost complete is new for me.

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**Chapter Two: Someone Will Pay**

Catherine drove to the hospital while Sara sat quietly in the passenger's seat.

"Are you okay?" Catherine asked.

"Yes," Sara replied shortly.

"You're just quiet tonight," Catherine shrugged.

"I've been having some personal problems. Nothing serious, nothing I want to talk about either," Sara explained.

"Oh? Problems with this mysterious new lover of yours?" Catherine raised an eyebrow.

Sara furrowed her brow, "How the hell…"

"Lucky guess, you just confirmed it. You've been so much happier lately; I just assumed there was a new man in your life. So who is he?" Catherine grinned.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Sara smirked, "anyway, we had a big fight this morning and I guess it's put me into a bad mood tonight."

Catherine shook her head, "Men. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em."

"Isn't that the truth?" Sara actually laughed, "I love him. He's just…so stubborn sometimes and he doesn't always consider my feelings when he does and says things."

"Well, I'd love to give you some advice, but since I don't know anything about your mystery man, I'm afraid this one's all yours," Catherine said teasingly.

"Nice try, but you're not going to get it out of me that way," Sara sighed, "I can deal with him on my own. I'm just dreading going home in the morning."

"You live with him?" Catherine was genuinely surprised.

Sara silently cursed herself for letting on too much, "Yeah."

"I didn't know it was _that_ serious. How long has this man been in your life?" Catherine questioned.

"Long enough," Sara said, "looks like we're here."

"You win this round, Sara, but this is not over yet," Catherine said ominously as they exited her vehicle.

The walk towards the hospital let their conversation slip to the back of their minds as they re-focused on the case at hand. They talked to the admissions clerk of the ER, flashed their badges and got a list of patients involved with the car accident. Fortunately for them, it had been a busy night in the ER and none of the patients had been released yet though most of them had only minor injuries.

First on the list was a Frank Martinez, age 54. He was listed in good condition with only some minor scrapes and bruises. Sara and Catherine asked the clerk where to find him and found him sitting up on a bed. He had mostly gray hair with some of his original darker hair still showing in spots. There were a couple scratches on his face, but otherwise, he appeared to be okay.

"Hello, are you Frank Martinez?" Catherine started.

"Yes I am," Frank replied, phrasing it so that his response also asked who she was.

"I'm Catherine Willows and this is Sara Sidle, we both work for the Las Vegas Crime Lab," she explained.

"Crime? Oh my God, am I going to jail?" Frank asked.

"No sir, at least I don't think so. We're just investigating the accident that you were involved with tonight," Sara jumped in.

Frank's hands began to shake, "Did…did someone die?"

Catherine and Sara exchanged a glance before the older CSI replied, "Yes, sir I'm afraid so."

"Ooooooh," he visibly deflated at this news, "it's my fault."

"Which vehicle were you driving Mr. Martinez?" Sara asked.

"The Dodge Ram 3500 is mine. I'm the one that hit the other cars," Frank admitted, "but that jack ass in the SUV just came into my lane without looking. I was trying to avoid that collision. I think he might have clipped me, but in the adrenaline of the moment, I'm not sure. Maybe it would've been better off if I'd just let him hit me instead of…those other cars I hit were so small."

"Did you get a good look at the SUV that almost hit you?" Catherine queried.

"Not really, no. It was red, that's all I could tell you. I just swerved and I never thought I'd hit anyone else. It was like I wasn't in control of my own body when this all happened. But I guess I was going faster than I thought, I don't know," Frank was fighting to maintain control of his emotions.

"Do you know exactly what happened after you swerved?" Catherine prodded.

"Well, like I said, I must've been going faster than I thought because I was across that median before I knew it and I hit that convertible. Then I just don't know why, but instead of trying to correct back to the median or something, I just kept barreling forward. It all happened so fast, I didn't have time to think about what was going on. I never meant to hit anyone," Frank sighed heavily, "so who did I kill?"

"We don't really have any information on any of the other people involved right now," Sara put in.

"I hope God will forgive me for what I didn't mean to happen," Frank sniffled, "did you find that red truck that caused me to swerve?"

"Not yet, that's why we're interviewing lots of people. We have to try and find that vehicle and its driver so that we can fully piece together what happened tonight," Sara explained.

"Thank you for telling us what you know, we may be in contact with you again soon," Catherine told the man, "but now we have some more people to interview."

The next four names on the list were apparently those of a family. All four of the people shared the last name of Daniels. There was Sam Daniels, age 35, Lily Daniels, age 32, Jonathon Daniels, age 6, and Bailey Daniels, age 3. Catherine's heart skipped a beat when she noticed the 'D' next to Sam, Lily and Jonathon's names, indicating they were deceased.

"The three fatalities were all from one family," she breathed.

"Oh no," Sara sighed, "and the little girl is still alive?"

"For now, either their records aren't updated yet or she's still hanging on. They must be the ones who were in that Honda," Catherine shook her head, "it's a miracle the little one is still alive if she is."

"That car was…well, you saw it," Sara couldn't even think of a word for the wreckage.

"I know," Catherine took a deep breath.

"Who's next on the list?" Sara broke the silence a moment later, knowing that they had to move forward in the investigation while memories were still fresh.

"Um, Caitlyn Conway is next," she read from the list.

They found their way to Caitlyn Conway and found that she was a passenger in the Mercedes convertible. She was in town visiting her sister and they had been on their way home from a casino with her sister's husband. It was clear that Caitlyn had been drinking and didn't really know anything useful about the accident. So the CSIs moved on to Caitlyn's sister, Sandra Warner.

So far of the people they'd visited, Sandra was the most visibly injured. Her nose was clearly broken and she was quick to point out that the airbag had done it. Her wrist was also in a brace, not broken, but injured by the force of the airbag's deployment. She was pretty upset about the accident and was concerned that her husband was going to be very angry with her.

Sandra sobbed, "It's a brand new, 2007 model. It's worth over $100,000. This is the first time he's let me drive it and he's going to kill me!"

"It was an accident, not your fault. I'm sure he's more concerned about you," Catherine tried to reassure her.

"You don't know my husband," Sandra shook her head.

"He can't blame you, you were going north and this big truck comes out of the southbound lanes and hits you," Sara said, "nothing you could've done to avoid it."

"I know, but he'll say something like if he was driving it never would've happened," Sandra sniffed, "he's just like that."

"So, your sister told us you were all at a casino tonight. Was anyone drinking?" Sara asked.

"My husband…and Caitlyn. But not me, I was the lucky designated driver tonight. I usually end up driving so I don't drink much outside home. My husband doesn't mind driving after having a few, but I refuse to drink anything," Sandra explained, "please, check my blood alcohol if you need to be sure."

"The hospital has probably already done so, ma'am. Standard procedure in an automobile accident, they want to make sure no alcohol contributed," Sara explained.

"Anyway, thank you for your time and for answering our questions," Catherine finished up.

The last name on their list was, of course, Mitch Warner, Sandra's husband. Based on their visit to Sandra, they knew to expect an angry man and they were not disappointed.

"Oh great, the cops are here. I need you to find the asshole that hit my Mercedes and make sure he pays for my car!" Mitch greeted them.

"Do you recall what happened tonight, sir?" Sara asked.

"Yeah, I remember I let my wife drive my brand new Mercedes because I had a few to drink at the casino. I remember that we were driving home and I remember that some jackass hit my fucking car!" Mitch shouted.

Catherine raised her eyebrows, "You don't have to yell at us, Mr. Warner. We're just asking for any information that might help us sort out what happened tonight."

"I told you what happened!" Mitch snapped.

"Yes, but there was a lot more to the accident than you," Sara informed him, "three other vehicles were involved and three people are dead right now because of it!"

Mitch seemed to be taken slightly aback, then muttered, "Someone's going to be paying for my $100,000 car."

**2****nd**** A/N**: Thank you to those of you who are reading and especially to those of you who have reviewed so far, I appreciate all of you very much. :) Can't wait for Dead Doll on Thursday!


	3. Trouble At Home

**Chapter Three: Trouble At Home**

After a very long shift, Sara Sidle was not ready for another confrontation when she got home. She opened the door to her home and was greeted by a very happy dog.

"Hi Bruno," she bent down to scratch behind his ears before kicking off her shoes.

She made a beeline for the shower and found it empty. She took off her clothes and let the hot water beat down on her back for several relaxing minutes before washing her hair and finishing up the shower. When she climbed out of the shower, she headed straight to the bedroom where the dog was waiting for her on the bed with Grissom.

"Hi," he said tentatively, "I heard you get in the shower, so I waited up for you."

"I'm not in the mood to fight, Gris," she started.

"Neither am I," he cut her off, "I just want to apologize for arguing with you and I think we can let that subject drop for a little while until we both have cooler heads."

"Fair enough," she tossed her robe aside to reveal her pajamas, "Bruno, get off the bed."

The dog immediately obeyed and took his position on the floor near the foot of their bed. She never understood why Grissom let the dog jump up there in the first place, but anytime someone was in bed, Bruno wanted to join. She didn't want the dog sleeping with them because he was huge and quite the bed hog. Besides, intimacy was impossible with a boxer hogging the bed. Although, she admittedly had a soft spot for the loveable dog and only made him get down when she was having a bad day.

"He was just keeping me company while I waited for you," Grissom shrugged, "it's not too often I get home before you. How was the hospital?"

"Can we talk about work tomorrow? I'm really tired," Sara yawned.

"Okay. Goodnight sweetheart," Grissom kissed her forehead as she crawled under the covers.

"Goodnight," she said.

Grissom could tell that she was still sort of mad at him over their argument the previous day. She made it clear by turning her back to him after she got situated under the covers. He rolled his eyes and then climbed beneath the blankets himself.

"I love you, Sara," he whispered before closing his eyes.

He was met with silence and he surmised that Sara had already fallen asleep. He was serious about not fighting again, so he decided not to say anything else in case she was awake. He sighed and closed his eyes, hoping she'd be more talkative when she woke up.

Grissom was awakened hours later by Sara getting up from the bed. He decided not to open his eyes right away and heard her go and let the dog out into the backyard. One nice thing about Bruno was that he had good manners and he'd been simple to housebreak. Grissom hadn't known a thing about training a dog and he'd lucked out when Sara picked this particular puppy out.

He could hear Sara moving about in the kitchen and decided he should get up before he got a rude awakening. If he was still asleep by the time Sara let Bruno back in, he was liable to jump up on the bed and cover Grissom in slobbery dog kisses. As he sat up and swung his feet over the edge of the bed, his neck cried out in protest of the sudden movement. He rubbed at his neck for a moment, wondering when the last time he got out of bed without being stiff or sore was. It seemed that age crept up without him knowing it because he couldn't honestly remember the last time.

Sara was cooking something that smelled wonderful when Grissom shuffled into the kitchen. At first she didn't notice that he came in until he wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her neck.

"Good morning," he whispered.

"It's past noon," she pointed out.

"Well, aren't we in a good mood already," he teased, "I'm aware of what time it is. It's just that our schedules are so backwards from work that this is morning for us regardless of the clock. Besides, that looks an awful lot like breakfast you're cooking."

Sara raised an eyebrow, "Okay, you win."

Grissom watched as she put peppers, onions, mushrooms and cheese into her omelet. He wrinkled his nose as he couldn't stand to eat a bunch of vegetables in his breakfast.

As if she had seen his face, Sara added, "Don't worry, I bought some ham for you. I won't eat meat, but I know that you like it."

He smiled, "Thanks. Even though you're mad at me, you're still being nice."

"You don't know what I put in it before you walked in here though," she grinned mischievously.

"Well, nothing too bad I hope," he kissed her again before moving to the refrigerator to pour them both glasses of orange juice.

Sara sat two plates on the table a few minutes later. They ate their first few bites of the meal in a tense silence. The previous days' argument hung heavily on both of their minds and Sara had the feeling he was going to bring it up again. As much as she didn't want to argue before work, she knew it would have to come up sometime.

Grissom seemed to be reading her mind as he finally broke the silence, "Look, I know you don't want to argue again, but I just don't think is the right time in my life."

"Well then it never will be because you're just going to get older, not younger," she slammed down her fork, "just admit it, you don't want this and age is your excuse."

"Fine, I'll be honest, I'm terrified. The thought of being responsible for another life is just more than I want to think about," he sighed.

"Everyone goes through a period of doubt about their own parenting skills. I'm just saying, I want a kid before I get too old to have one," she returned.

"I know you're going through that whole 'my biological clock is ticking' thing right now. But think about it, do you really think I could be a good father? Before you, I couldn't even admit my true feelings to anyone," he took another bite.

Sara had lost her appetite and pushed her plate back, "What if I told you that I'm already pregnant?"

Grissom's eyes grew wide, "You're not are you?"

"I don't know, I might be," it was her turn to sigh, "that's why I brought the subject up. I'm late."

"Oooooh," was his only response.

"I made an appointment with a doctor tomorrow morning, I'll find out for sure then. Until then, I think its best we keep our distance. I don't want to say anything that I might regret later," she said coldly.

Grissom was dumbfounded as she got up from the table, grabbed Bruno's leash and took off with him. He couldn't help but wonder how the hell he'd managed to walk into that one. If Sara was really pregnant, of course he would never ask her to get rid of it. It was their child and he would be glad to be a father. He just meant that he didn't want to go out of his way to try and get her pregnant. Not only was he old to be a father, as he'd told her, but he didn't honestly believe he'd be capable of raising a child on his own if anything ever happened to her. And besides that, they weren't even married and though he was not exactly the romantic type, his thinking was old-fashioned and he felt they should be married before they had a child, if they ever did.

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AN: Hope you enjoyed. I appreciate all the positive response to this story so far. I won't hold the story hostage and say I won't post unless I get x number of reviews, but the reviews do make me feel like I should post faster. One day closer to the start of season 8…one day closer to knowing if Sara lives or dies. 


	4. A Red Ford Explorer

**Chapter Four: A Red Ford Explorer**

At the beginning of their next shift, the entire graveyard team gathered in the layout room. They were putting together what they'd learned the night before to see how much information they had on the case.

"Okay, so what did you learn at the hospital?" Grissom inquired.

Catherine spoke up, "At this point, there were three fatalities all from the same family. At the time of our interviews last night, the little girl from the Honda was still listed as being alive."

"I received a message from the hospital earlier that she is alive and in stable condition," Grissom interjected.

"So we interviewed the others. The man who was driving the big truck was a 54 year old and he was pretty shaken up about the whole thing. We gathered from him that a red SUV swerved into his lane without warning and he tried to avoid a collision and that's when he crossed into the northbound lanes. Judging by the skid marks I noted where he crossed the median, he missed hitting the cement barrier by about 50 feet. If the SUV had cut him off just slightly sooner, he would've hit the barrier and the rest of the accident might have been prevented.

"The three people in the Mercedes seemed to suffer relatively minor injuries. The woman who was driving was pretty concerned about the damage to the car. Then we met her husband who was a real jack ass. He was more worried about his expensive car than the fact that there were other victims in the accident. I think that's about all the information we got from the hospital last night," Catherine looked at Sara to see if she had anything to add.

"That about covers it," Sara said quietly.

"While I didn't talk to the guy, so I don't know personally what he was like, I can't blame him for being mad about the Mercedes. Those things run easily a hundred grand," Greg put in.

"Yeah, that's still no excuse for how that man acted," Sara shook her head.

"No," Catherine agreed, "it's certainly not."

"Anyway, back to the accident," Grissom cleared his throat.

"Warrick and I managed to track down some eye witnesses and we know that we are looking for a red vehicle with a partial license plate ending in AJK. Thanks to the tread marks Greggo collected, we've narrowed it down to a Ford Explorer, likely 1996-2000 model," Nick added, "we're narrowing down a list of possible vehicles. I guess the guy in the SUV cut someone else off and that's how they got his plate number. They were on their way back home when they came up on the accident."

"Well I think your Ford may have actually made contact with my truck, I found a scratch on it that had red paint transfer," Catherine nodded, "I'll make sure to get it over to Hodges and have him analyze it to see what type of vehicle the red paint came from."

"All I can tell you from my initial observations on the sedan is that a significant amount of force was exerted on it. The passenger cabin was completely caved in and I'm amazed that anyone came out of it alive. That big of a truck versus a smaller car is no contest," Grissom put in.

"Sounds like we've got a lot of work still to go," Warrick sighed.

"I have a lot of evidence left to sift through from the Accord," Grissom nodded, "you two keep working on locating the Explorer. Greg, you can help me sift through more evidence. Sara and Catherine work on what you collected from the truck and the Mercedes."

The team went their separate ways and began looking more closely at the tiny bits and pieces of evidence that they'd collected. Catherine took her paint sample to Hodges and he determined that it was Ford's stock color of red for Explorers in the year range they were searching for. She also ran the blood sample she'd collected from the Mercedes just to be sure that Sandra was, in fact, driving and not her drunken, angry husband. If he was, it probably hadn't contributed to the accident much, but the guy was such a jerk, Catherine would love to nail him on a DUI. When her results came back, the blood was a match to the sample they had received from Sandra at the hospital, so their story seemed to be true.

Nick and Warrick had narrowed down their list of potential vehicles to only 4. Two of them were not AJK plates, but in the dark of the night as a major crash was happening, an 'I' could look like a 'J' and so they took close similarities into consideration. Now they just had to go and personally visit all the R.O.'s and see if they could find anything probative. The first name on the list was a Jessica Anderson who lived in an apartment in town. They paid her a visit around 11PM and found her both home and awake.

"Hello, what can I do for you?" she answered her door.

"Hi, are you Jessica Anderson?" Nick asked.

"Yes sir," she replied.

"Jessica, let me cut to the chase," Warrick jumped in, "do you own a 1996 red Ford Explorer?"

"I sure do, first new car I ever bought. Of course with gas prices now, I wish I'd bought a smaller car," Jessica explained, "hindsight is 20/20 I guess. Why do you ask?"

"We're with the crime lab and we're trying to find an SUV that might have caused a chain reaction accident last night," Nick explained.

"Oh my God, that one that they talked about on the news? Where those three people were killed?" she asked, worriedly.

"That's the one," Nick nodded.

"So, where were you last night around 10PM?" Warrick asked.

"Same place I am every week night at 10PM, still working," Jessica told them, "I work down at Caesar's Palace, feel free to contact them and verify that I was there. I get off work at 10:30PM every night, I'm not usually home until right about now. In fact, I got here just before you guys showed up."

"Would you mind if we got a quick look at your vehicle, just to make sure it hasn't been in any recent accidents?" Nick queried.

"If it will prove that I'm not a suspect, go right ahead," she stepped out of her apartment and led them to where her SUV was parked.

Nick and Warrick both quickly looked over the vehicle, and found everything to be in good shape. There were some rock chips and minor damages that you'd expect from a car that was driven for approximately 11 years. Nothing that would indicate that it had been involved in any accidents and definitely no white paint transfer.

"All right Miss Anderson, it looks like you're not the person we're looking for," Warrick informed her.

"Good, I know that if I was ever in accident I would stop. How can anyone run from a scene?" she shook her head.

"It's possible the person didn't realize that they'd started the chain reaction, but we won't know for sure until we find 'em," Nick shrugged, "thank you for your cooperation, we appreciate it."

"No problem, I hope you find the person responsible," Jessica said as she headed back to her apartment.

"Well that was a bust," Nick sighed.

"One down, three more to go," Warrick said, "I'm sure we'll find our guy."

"Unless our eyewitnesses were not reliable, we're going on what they told us," Nick reminded him, "it's possible they got the wrong license plate number or it was unrelated to the accident."

"Have some faith, my man, I think our guy is on this list: Mark Bay, James McGrane or Edmond Juarez," Warrick read off the remaining possibilities, "besides, we've got plenty of our shift left to visit the rest of these people."

"You're right, who's next?" Nick asked.

"Well Mr. McGrane is the next closest person on our list," Warrick checked the addresses.

"Okay, let's go pay him a visit," Nick backed out of his parking spot.

The CSIs visited both James McGrane and Edmond Juarez who lived in the closest Vegas suburbs. Both visits turned out to be busts. That left the remaining name on their list as Mark Bay who lived in Henderson. They decided to check in at the lab before making their last visit. If Mark Bay wasn't the one they were looking for, it would be back to square one and they wanted to warn Grissom of the possibility as well as find any updates on the case.

* * *

A/N: And voila, there you go with chapter four. I will try to have chapter five posted sometime tomorrow (before the new episode is on because I know I'd rather be watching that than reading some story). Once again, thanks for reading and for reviewing. I'm glad that you are all enjoying the story so far. 


	5. Bailey Daniels

**Chapter Five: Bailey Daniels**

Sara Sidle did her best to avoid her boss and current love interest during the shift. She knew that he was burning to ask her the results of her doctor's visit and she really didn't want to talk about it at work. Part of the reason their relationship had been successful thus far was because they were able to remain professional while at the crime lab and working cases together. She was sitting in a layout room looking over her photos from the accident scene when he finally caught up with her.

"Sara," he grabbed her attention from the doorway.

"What?" she barely gave him a second glance as she looked at her pictures.

"I just got a call from the hospital. They sent the bodies of the Daniels family to the coroner, but they want someone to come pick up their personal effects. Since this is an active case, I think its best that a CSI does it," he started.

"And you want me to do it?" she asked.

"Yes, please. Everyone else is tied up right now. Nick and Warrick are in the field, I couldn't find Catherine and Greg is still helping me out," Grissom rattled off.

"Okay, fine," she stood abruptly to leave, but he caught her on the way out.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly, giving her a questioning look.

"I'm fine," she said, "we'll talk later at home, I'm sure."

"All right," he let her go as he knew this was not the time or place to start another argument.

Sara arrived at the hospital and was directed to where the family's belongings were being held. When she got all of their personal effects, she quickly looked through them for anything out of the ordinary. She found nothing special and as she slid the wallet back into the plastic bag which contained all the family's clothing and belongings. A photo fell out of the wallet and floated lazily to the floor. Sara bent and picked it up and was about to shove it in the wallet when curiosity got the best of her and she decided to look at it. It was a picture of two beautiful young children. A boy that looked about 5 years old and a girl that looked about 2 years old. On the back was scrawled "Johnny and Bailey – Summer '06". It struck Sara that the boy was now dead and the girl was likely not far behind.

As she was heading back out to her lab vehicle to return all the newest evidence to the vault, a little brunette girl was wheeled past on a gurney. Sara did a double-take as this was clearly the little girl she had just seen in the photograph, although a little bit older. She followed the gurney and the doctor finally swung around to see what she wanted.

"Excuse me, but is that Bailey Daniels?" Sara asked.

"Yes," the doctor replied suspiciously.

"My name is Sara Sidle; I'm with the crime lab. We're currently working her case, the car accident," she explained.

"Wait here Miss Sidle, Bailey just came out of surgery and I'm going to set her up in the recovery room," the doctor turned and escorted the little girl to a room down the hall.

A few moments later the doctor reappeared and escorted Sara to what appeared to be his office. He gestured for her to take a seat as he shuffled through a stack of papers on his desk.

"Sorry, I didn't properly introduce myself. My name is Dr. Dane Leonard. I've been with the Daniels girl since she was brought in last night," the man told her.

"How is she? I saw the car she came out of and her entire family is dead. How is she alive?" she inquired.

"By the grace of God," Dr. Leonard said seriously, "I saw the images of that car on the news this morning. I don't know how she came out of there alive either. I can tell you that she is miraculously doing fairly well. She had to go to surgery because her right arm and leg were crushed in the accident, but otherwise she had no serious injuries. No internal bleeding, no head injuries. I'm amazed."

"Wow," Sara breathed her agreement, "what about family? Does she have anyone else?"

"No luck so far, the emergency contact was a bust. It was a grandmother that it turns out died just last month," the doctor sighed, "I'm not having any success in finding other family members either. No aunts or uncles, the other grandparents are long gone. It seems right now that her parents and brother were all she had."

Sara's heart sank at this news. She was not usually big on children, but she knew all too well what it was like to not have a real family growing up. Bailey Daniels was much younger than she was when her family was broken up, but still the girl had no easy future ahead of her. Fortunately she was young enough that she'd likely be able to live a fairly normal life after she healed and found a new family.

Sara attributed her unusual feelings of concern for this girl to her own desire to have a child. She had always been empathetic to victims of abuse and other cases that hit close to home. Bailey Daniels' situation was quite different in that she wasn't abused, but still she was without a family at a young age. With any luck they would be able to locate a relative somewhere.

"I know it's an active investigation and all, but do you have any information on what started this tragedy?" Dr. Leonard asked.

"We don't know for sure. We're still looking for a possible suspect that may have set the whole thing in motion," Sara said, "no such luck yet."

"Well, this whole thing seems pretty gloomy, eh?" Dr. Leonard sighed.

"Yeah. Um, would you mind contacting with me information about the little girl? I'm curious to see how she's doing and if you find any family. When she wakes up, I'm sure she's going to want her family," Sara was almost embarrassed to ask. She still wasn't quite sure why she was suddenly so interested in a child she didn't even know. She handed the doctor a business card with the phone number for the crime lab, underneath which she added her cell phone number.

"I'd be glad to Miss Sidle. I can appreciate your concern. The girl reminds me of my own daughter when she was that age," he said sadly.

"Thank you doctor," Sara rose to gather the items she had been initially sent to the hospital to collect, "I better head back to the lab now. My boss will wonder why it took me so long to pick a couple of things up."

"Good luck with the case, Miss Sidle," the doctor called after her retreating back.

"Sounds like we might need it," Sara sighed.

Sara spent the entire drive back to the crime lab thinking about the poor little girl who was going to wake up to a nightmare. She was going to be hurting from the accident and any child that age would ask for their mother right away. She wondered who would be in charge of telling the girl that her family was gone and how they would go about it. It was a delicate subject and she pitied whoever had to explain it to one poor, injured, frightened child.

* * *

A/N: Here you go with chapter five. I know you're probably all wondering if Sara's pregnant or not…but you'll find out soon enough. And hey guess what? Dead Doll is on TONIGHT!!!!! 


	6. I Don't Have Any Insurance

**SPOILER Alert: **Just wanted to give you a fair warning. If you have not seen 8x01 Dead Doll and you don't wanna be spoiled, don't read my author's note at the bottom because that's what it's going to talk about primarily. ;)

**Chapter Six: I Don't Have Any Insurance**

Warrick and Nick finally arrived at the apartment where Mark Bay, their last possible suspect, was listed as residing in. They rang the doorbell and were greeted by a slender redhead who was scantily clad in a fuzzy white robe with her wet hair clinging to her face and neck.

"Yeah? What do you want?" she asked in a gruff Brooklyn accent.

"My name is Nick Stokes and this is Warrick Brown," Nick started, "we're looking for a Mark Bay."

"That's my boyfriend, he ain't home right now," she started to close the door.

"Whoa, wait a second. Can we ask you a few questions?" Warrick asked.

"I don't even have any clothes on!" she sounded indignant.

"You're the one who answered the door," Nick reminded her.

"Yeah well, you're the ones who rang the bell," she scoffed.

"Fine, we're willing to wait if you want to get dressed and then come back and chat with us," Warrick suggested.

"All right, gimme a minute," the girl disappeared back into the apartment, slamming the door in their faces.

"Well, she's a real prize," Warrick shook his head.

"Give her the benefit of the doubt, we did catch her at a bad time," Nick scolded, "I wouldn't be too happy to answer the door in a robe like that and find a couple of strange men wanting to talk."

"She just wasn't exactly friendly. I doubt we'll get any information out of her," Warrick sighed, "which leaves us with nothing."

A few minutes later the redhead reappeared, dressed in a tight blue tank top with incredibly short jean shorts with her damp hair pulled loosely back into a ponytail, "Okay, what do you guys want?"

"First of all, it'd be nice if we knew your name," Nick started.

"My name's Gina," she told them.

"Does your boyfriend drive a red Ford Explorer?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah, why? Who are you guys anyway?" she raised an eyebrow.

"We're with the Las Vegas Crime Lab, we're investigating a recent incident involving a red Ford Explorer," Nick explained, "was your boyfriend's car recently involved in a car accident of any kind?"

"I don't like where you're going with this," Gina crossed her arms, "I don't have to answer your questions do I?"

"No, and this is not an official interrogation either, we're just a couple of guys trying to find out some information. Judging by your response, I'd say your boyfriend's car _was_ involved in an accident," Warrick shot back.

Gina narrowed her eyes, "You guys need to come back and talk to Mark."

As if on cue, a blue 2005 Ford Focus sped up the street and pulled into the parking lot a little too quickly. The man who jumped out of the car came up the stairs and Nick and Warrick eyed him, suspecting it was Mark Bay. He was definitely not driving a Ford Explorer, but if he took it in to fix any damage from the accident, it makes sense that a dealer would lend him another Ford to drive in the meantime.

"Gina, who are these guys?" the man asked, eyeing the strangers suspiciously.

"I'm Nick Stokes and this is Warrick Brown with the Las Vegas Crime Lab," Nick explained.

"Crime lab?" the man repeated, instantly acting nervous.

"Yes, we're looking for a Mark Bay, would that be you?" Warrick inquired.

Seeing no use in lying, the man shrugged, "Yeah. I haven't committed any crimes lately, so whaddya want?"

"Lately?" Nick raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah well, you know, everyone's committed a crime or two in their past. When I was a kid, let's just say I wasn't always a law abiding citizen," Mark shrugged, "I'm sure you can check my criminal records if you haven't already."

"These guys were asking about your Explorer," Gina piped up.

"Oh," Mark suddenly looked even more uncomfortable, "I just took it in to be serviced. Thing's nearly ten years old. You gotta make sure you keep up on the maintenance and stuff."

"Is this just a regular service or is there any body damage that needs repaired?" Warrick cut right to the chase.

"What? How did you- I mean…" Mark stuttered, "Gina, go get me a glass of ice water please, it's like a thousand degrees out here."

The redhead obediently disappeared after giving her boyfriend a questioning look. She didn't really want to leave him alone with these two as she was sure he'd crack. The truth was, he cut off some truck the other night and the back end of his truck had been a little scratched up. She'd convinced him to get it fixed with the money from her last paycheck. She felt somewhat responsible for the damage as she had been yelling at him to get her to work on time. She was also the one who convinced him to just keep driving even after he'd hit the other truck because it would cost them more to do the right thing than to just run and pay for the damage themselves.

Once Gina was out of earshot Mark spoke up, "All right. I may have hit this truck the other night. But it was barely a tap. I was trying to pass and I guess I cut him off and it scratched my paint up a little."

"Sir, if you know that you hit someone's truck, why wouldn't you stop?" Nick asked.

"I don't have any insurance. The damage was minor enough that I could pay for it out of pocket. Of course I didn't know that until I got home, but Gina was already late for work and she told me not to stop. I knew I'd get a lot of heat from the pigs if I stopped on account of not having insurance," Mark explained, "Besides, like I said, I wasn't even sure at the time that I hit him."

"Pigs?" Warrick narrowed his eyes, intensifying his glare.

"Sorry, cops. I've had a lot of bad experiences in my life with them, so you'll excuse me if I don't much care for the police," Mark defended.

_Perhaps you wouldn't have a problem if you didn't break the law,_ Warrick thought.

"Are you aware that in making contact with that truck you set of a chain reaction accident involving several vehicles?" Nick queried.

"What? You're joking," Mark scoffed, "I barely touched the truck, like I said."

"Don't you watch the news, man?" Warrick asked.

"No, not really," Mark shrugged, "it's never interested me much."

"Then why did you feel the need to take your Explorer in to get fixed so soon?" Warrick asked, "And, if you don't have insurance, how can you afford the rental?"

"I work at a Ford dealer, I get a discount getting it fixed and my boss said I could borrow a car until it's fixed," Mark said.

"Has the work been started yet?" Nick asked.

"No, I just dropped it off. They said it might be a day or two because there's a few customers ahead of me. Why? You guys need a warrant to search my car, I know my rights," Mark narrowed his eyes.

"All right, just don't leave town, Mr. Bay, we're probably going to be bringing you in for questioning in the very near future and it would be wise for you to stick around," Nick warned.

"Fine, soon as you have a warrant, I'll be seeing you again, I guess," Mark turned and closed the criminalists out of his apartment.

"Well, looks like we found our man. It shouldn't be a problem to get a warrant out of the judge," Warrick was glad to have finally made some progress.

Nick was looking quite disgusted, "I can't believe his excuse for starting this whole thing was his girlfriend being late for work. And the reason for not stopping was not having insurance. Yeah that'd get him in some legal trouble, but if this is the guy that started the whole accident, he's in a lot more trouble now with that whole family being killed."

"I know," Warrick sighed, "let's get back to the lab."

* * *

A/N: Okay so next chapter you will finally find out about Sara and whether or not she's pregnant. I want to warn you that chapter 7 might not be up until late tomorrow or early Sunday because I am going to the mountains to look at the fall leaves.

Now, as for Dead Doll…wow. I got so mad there at the end when I thought they were going to make us wait another week to find out if Sara was alive! I had to watch it a second time (last night mom watched it with me and she didn't see Living Doll, so I had to explain a lot). Thank goodness for Comcast OnDemand, I watched it in high definition and I noticed a lot of things the second time around that I missed the first time. For instance when they flashed back to Grissom calling Sara, I didn't notice the first time that she said, "Hello Gilbert" and I thought that was adorable! Anyway, the preview for next week makes me mad, Sara barely survives her ordeal and he's going to get on them about the relationship?! Ugh. Sorry, this will probably be my longest author's note, I just had to comment on Dead Doll.


	7. Are You?

**Chapter Seven: Are You?**

Sara had done her best to avoid Grissom at work, but it was another thing entirely when it was time to go home. It was nearly impossible to steer clear of the person who shared your bed. Grissom had been working late as usual, so she was just relaxing with Bruno at her side when he came in.

"Sorry I'm late," he started, offering no explanation.

She watched as he silently stripped down to his boxers and pulled on an old t-shirt to sleep in. Bruno lifted his head and wagged his tail tiredly as Grissom slid into bed. He scratched the dog behind the ears and found that magical spot which caused Bruno to lean into Grissom and let out a contented moan. If only it was that easy to get Sara to forgive him, but she was not a dog and one of them would have to break the uncomfortable silence.

"The doctor called me earlier," Sara seemed to read his mind.

"I see," Grissom wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible, "so…are you?"

"No, I'm not pregnant," she sighed heavily.

"I'm sorry," he sensed her disappointment.

"Are you really? Because it seemed to me like you weren't too happy about the idea of having a child," Sara crossed her arms.

"I know," he took a deep breath, "but, Sara, honey, if you were pregnant, I'd be happy. I think it's just that initial shock. A lot of people react badly when they first get that news. You have to know I would've stood by you and helped you get ready to have a baby."

Sara's face softened a little, "I know you wouldn't just up and leave me, but I can't help wondering how you would've reacted if I was pregnant. You have to be relieved right now."

"I won't lie, I am a little relieved," Grissom nodded.

"You don't want a child then," she shook her head, "just admit it. You don't have to feel trapped into having one with me either."

"It's not that. I thought about it and while I'm still terrified at the thought of being a father, I would do it for you. I love you. It's just, I'd prefer that we were married before we have a child," he explained.

She was clearly taken aback, "So…what exactly are you saying?"

"I'm saying we should think about getting married. Or at least talk about it," he said.

"We've never really discussed it before. I didn't even know it was something you wanted. I don't want you to feel like you're forced," she admitted.

"I don't, this is something I want. I thought about it and I think marriage is the first step. Then it makes sense to talk about kids. I just realized how dumb I've been. Here I am, trying to hide our relationship from everyone when I should be shouting my love for you from the rooftops," he smiled.

"Oh Gil please, don't do that," she groaned.

"I won't," he chuckled, "seriously though. I do want to marry you and I want to know if it's something you thought about before I asked for real."

"This is not exactly romantic," Sara raised her eyebrow.

"I know," he sighed, "I just couldn't stand the thought of you saying no, so I figured I'd at least broach the subject before I got too far."

"I honestly thought you'd never ask me. I would love nothing more than to have a ring as an outward symbol. I hate sneaking around and lying to everyone. You know Nick was asking about coming over to my apartment for a movie night," she shook her head, "I told him I was having it repainted. I hate lying, but I wasn't about to say 'oh, I moved in with Grissom'. We haven't had a movie night in months and I think he's getting tired of just working all the time. I feel like I've been a bad friend ever since we moved in because I'm not spending time with the other guys like I used to. Warrick, Nick and I used to go out for an occasional drink or something."

"I know, and you're free to go with them if you want. Don't let me stop you, I won't be one of those jealous boyfriends," Grissom told her honestly. The last thing he wanted to do was stop her from hanging out with her friends.

"But first they'd have to know about us. I mean, I can't keep making up stories about why they can't come over to my apartment. I can go out and not have them come over, but still it'd be so much easier if they knew," she sighed.

"Don't worry, they'll all find out soon enough," he resolved, "I promise you I'll find a much better way to ask you. It won't be a surprise, but it'll be a better story to tell everyone."

"Sounds like something you'd need help with," she smirked.

"Hey now, I can be romantic if I really put my mind to it. Don't you worry about this. I'll have something that will blow you away," he defended.

She raised an eyebrow, "Don't go making promises you can't keep."

"Just you wait and see," he told her.

"How's the case going?" she shifted subjects suddenly when the little girl popped into her mind, "I know I was at the hospital and I missed out on what everyone else was up to."

"It's slow going. There's just tons of evidence to sift through," he shook his head, "such a mess."

"I saw the little girl that survived from that Honda. It's terrible, she's lost her entire family," Sara's brown eyes showed a deep sadness, "the doctor told me they haven't been able to locate any relatives."

"That's awful," Grissom said genuinely, "she must've been in critical condition."

"Actually no," she shuddered at the image of the badly broken car, "she managed to come out of it with only a broken arm and a shattered leg. They had just finished surgery on her leg and they expect a full recovery."

"Wow," he furrowed his brow, "that's amazing."

"I know," she agreed.

Seemingly feeling left out of the conversation, Bruno took this opportunity to stretch out and groan loudly. As he stretched, he put both his front feet on Grissom and nearly shoved him off the bed as he caught his master off guard.

"Whoa there," Sara laughed.

"Geez he's strong," Grissom caught himself and re-centered his balance on the bed.

"I think he might be jealous," she snickered, "I mean, he's leaning on me and trying to push you out of the bed."

"I've got news for you," he spoke to the dog, "I can put you out in the living room and close the door. Then let's see you throw me out of my own bed."

Sara laughed harder, "Are you seriously being competitive with a dog?"

Grissom scowled, "No."

"He's just trying to make himself comfortable," she scratched the dog behind the ears, "aren't you?"

"You never scratch me behind the ears," he teased.

She looked up, humor dancing in her eyes, "You really want to be treated like a dog? Okay, down Grissom! Bad boy, you know you're not supposed to be up on the furniture."

"All right, you win," Grissom smiled. He was glad their earlier fight seemed to be resolved. Although he wasn't sure what exactly he'd gotten himself into by saying he would set up a romantic proposal. While he was serious about marriage (he'd already bought her a ring) he'd been pondering for weeks how to go about giving her the ring. Sara was no ordinary woman and he didn't want any ordinary proposal.

* * *

A/N: Thank you so much to all you readers and reviewers, you guys rock. Now you know Sara's not pregnant, but hey there's a great proposal to look forward to (assuming Grissom lives up to his word). 


	8. Jackpot

**Chapter Eight: Jackpot**

As expected, Nick and Warrick had no trouble securing a warrant to search Mark Bay's Explorer for evidence that might link him to the multi-car crash. At the beginning of their next shift, they took the warrant along with Captain Brass down to the Ford Dealer where Mark Bay worked. They talked to his manager and they found out that, sure enough, his SUV was parked and waiting for its turn in the accident repair garage. After flashing the warrant, the two CSIs got to work investigating the vehicle while Brass questioned Bay's boss.

Nick made his way directly to the back of the vehicle because if Mark claimed he had made a little contact while passing someone, then logically the damage would be in the rear.

"Hey Warrick, come check this out," Nick called out.

"Jackpot," Warrick grinned upon seeing the broken tail light and white paint transfer in the scratches.

"It looks like we finally found our guy," Nick began snapping multiple photos of the vehicle as was protocol.

"We'll have to see if Greg found any pieces of the broken tail light at the scene," Warrick made a note in his notepad.

Brass, meanwhile was getting an interesting story out of Bay's boss, "So he told you that he was involved in a traffic accident?"

"Yes, but I didn't know that he had run from the scene," Christopher Reed explained, "he told me that he got rear-ended and the other driver took off."

"Really?" Brass was surprised that this guy had twisted the story around to make himself the victim.

"That's what he said, obviously now, you're here telling me that's not the case," Reed sighed, "I knew it was a bad idea hiring a guy with no insurance. I should have made him take the company insurance, but he made up quite a story about how he couldn't afford that. I guess I've got one hell of a story teller on my hands."

"It would seem so," Brass nodded, "so you'll let Auto Detail tow his truck away then? We need to take it back to the lab to make sure any evidence is not covered up or altered."

"Of course, I want to cooperate in this matter. It would look bad for this dealership if it got out that we refused to cooperate with a police investigation. I'm sure the owner would want us to help you any way we can," Reed offered.

"Thank you, but I think you've answered all my questions and by letting us retrieve the SUV, you've done all we need from you," Brass shook the guy's hand, "thank you."

"You're welcome," Christopher Reed spun around and walked quickly back toward the offices from which he'd come.

Brass rejoined the CSIs and whistled, "Sure looks like it hit a white vehicle to me."

"We took a paint scraping to match it to the Dodge truck and we're going to see if Greg collected the broken taillight pieces. So far, it's looking like Mark Bay is our guy," Nick explained.

"As soon as you get your results, let me know so I can drag Bay in for questioning," Brass said, "sounds like he's a real nice character."

After the Explorer was picked up for transport, Nick and Warrick took their newly collected evidence back to the lab for analysis. Warrick took the paint scrapings to determine if it was a match to Frank Martinez's Dodge truck while Nick chased Greg down to see what he had come up with.

"Greg, my man, please tell me that you collected some broken tail light pieces," Nick found the younger CSI in the lounge drinking some coffee.

"You know, it shouldn't be legal to call this crap 'coffee.' If I didn't need a caffeine boost right about now, I wouldn't even dream of putting this stuff in my mouth. Unfortunately, someone finished off my Blue Hawaiian and I have this sneaking suspicion it was Grissom," Greg shook his head, "just because he's the supervisor."

"You know how he feels about food in the break room. The cupboards and fridge are accessible to everyone around here so you take a risk by leaving your stuff where anyone can get to it," Nick started, "anyway, did you even hear what I asked you?"

"Yes, I'm on my break at the moment," Greg sipped the vile liquid in his cup and decided that it wasn't worth it and poured it out.

"Greg," Nick used a warning tone.

"Okay, okay, let me grab my evidence notes. I don't remember. There was a lot of crap on that road and it's hard to know what was pertinent to the case and what wasn't," Greg disappeared out of the room.

Nick waited impatiently for his return, "Took you long enough."

"I was gone for like a minute, tops," Greg furrowed his brow, "what's the big deal anyway? Is a piece of a broken tail light going to break the case?"

"It very well could," Nick said, "so?"

"You're in luck. I did find some pieces of a shattered tail light," Greg handed Nick the photos, "did you guys find that red Ford you were looking for?"

"Yep and guess what? Broken tail light and white paint transfer," Nick studied the picture for a serial number.

Greg raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Sounds like the one we've been looking for."

"As soon as Warrick gets results on the paint transfer and I check this serial number to see if it matches a Ford Explorer, we'll be brining in our suspect for a chat," Nick left the young CSI standing alone in the break room.

"You're welcome!" Greg called out after him.

After what felt like an eternity, Warrick grabbed the results of the paint analysis before the tech could even react, "Thanks man."

Warrick headed off to find Nick and Greg to inform them of his find. According to the analysis, the white paint transfer was a match to the Dodge Ram from the accident scene and the red paint was a perfect match to the transfer they'd collected from the truck. Now all they had to do was call Brass and have him bring Mark Bay in for an interrogation. It seemed that he was lying to his boss and playing off the severity of his involvement in the accident to the CSIs.

"Bingo!" Nick exclaimed upon running the serial number from the broken tail light fragments he'd borrowed from the evidence vault.

"Are you playing Bingo on company time?" Warrick teased upon hearing the Texan.

"Very funny," Nick spun around, "I just matched tail light pieces Greg found to a 1998 Ford Explorer…in other words our vehicle."

"I just matched paint transfer from both vehicles to each other," Warrick grinned, "sounds like this thing is breaking wide open. I'll call Brass."

"I'll find the rest of the team to give them an update," Nick rose from his seat.

* * *

A/N: And so more about the car accident comes clear. This case is just about to wrap up and then you'll see a lot more GSR. Not to sound like a broken record, but I'd like to thank all the reviewers and readers once more. 


	9. Post Mortem

**Chapter Nine: Post Mortem**

Grissom got a page from Doc Robbins who was most likely finishing up the autopsies of the accident victims. There would probably not be much useful information relative to the case as the cause of death was obvious, but nonetheless he paid the coroner a visit to be thorough. He arrived in the morgue shortly after receiving the page and was met by assistant coroner David Phillips.

"Hello David," Grissom greeted the younger man.

"Hi Grissom," David returned, "Doc Robbins just finished up the post mortem exam on the little boy who was killed in the car accident."

"I figured that was why he was paging me," Grissom nodded, "it was faster to just come down here than to call back."

David nodded his agreement then disappeared for a moment to inform Robbins of his visitor. Grissom was motioned into the autopsy room where three bodies were laid out on metal tables. Even as a seasoned veteran, the sight of the small body next to the two larger ones made Grissom pause for a second. The premature death of a child was always a tough subject for any CSI and even after years on the job, it didn't hit Grissom any softer especially given that Sara wanted a child. Another fear of his was having to see his own child die before he did and he knew he couldn't handle that. He shook the momentary sadness off and put up a business front.

"Well, what's your verdict?" Grissom asked his longtime co-worker.

"All three obviously suffered a lot of trauma from a hard impact, consistent with a car accident," Robbins offered, "you really didn't have to come down. Nothing special."

"You know me," Grissom shrugged, "I like to get every detail possible."

Robbins shrugged, "Better safe than sorry."

"Besides, I needed a break from poring over the evidence. Always better to come back with a pair of fresh eyes," Grissom added.

"Okay, well on the left here we have Samuel Daniels 35 year old male, driver of the Honda Accord. Mr. Daniels it seems was killed instantly. The impact of the truck on his side of the car basically snapped his neck in addition to breaking just about every other bone on the left side of his body. Cause of death was the severance of his spinal cord, paralyzing his lower body and ultimately stopping his heart from beating and his lungs from breathing," the doctor explained.

"Pretty much what we'd expect in an accident like this," Grissom nodded.

"Next we have Mrs. Lillian Daniels 32 year old female, riding in the front passenger seat of the Accord. Mrs. Daniels was not killed right away, but was dead by the time rescuers were able to cut her out. Also according to their reports, she was alive long enough to ask about her children. COD was exsanguination due to massive internal injuries and a piece of metal perforating her abdominal wall. She died a slow, painful death," the coroner reported.

They moved to the final bed where a child's body was shrouded in a white sheet, "This is Jonathon Daniels 6 year old male. He was still alive when rescuers extracted him from the car and was transported to the hospital via helicopter. Doctors took him to emergency surgery to try and repair several injuries, but there was too much damage. He had several broken bones, his spleen was ruptured, the liver was damaged and bleeding. His brain was swollen and bruised upon examination. COD is ultimately blood loss on Jonathon as well," Robbins finished up.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Grissom nodded, "Thank you Al."

"Always a pleasure, Gil," Robbins gave a short nod to the CSI supervisor as he left.

Grissom returned to the lab just as his team members were assembling in the layout room.

"Griss, just the man we were looking for," Warrick motioned his boss in.

"We were about to run through the case and the new developments we have," Catherine explained.

"I just came from Doc Robbins," Grissom explained.

"Okay, let's do this," Sara uncrossed her arms and flashed Grissom a smile that she hoped no one else caught.

The team began laying out the evidence, organizing the facts and theorizing about the missing bits and pieces. There was still the matter of questioning Mark Bay, but so far it looked like this case would be wrapped up soon. All the pieces were falling into place with just a few things left unanswered. It was nice to have a big case like this wrapping up so neatly when it could have easily taken weeks or months. Of course it helped that there were no other major cases that the night shift had to handle, allowing Grissom to devote his entire crew of CSIs to the one case.

After everyone was brought up to speed on the case, some of the CSIs who were not going to be involved in the interrogation decided to go along and watch from the viewing room anyway. By pure luck, Grissom and Sara were left alone as the others wanted to be at PD to listen in as Nick, Warrick and Brass did the questioning. The pair remained quiet for a minute to make sure prying ears were out of hearing range.

"Honey, are you okay?" Grissom asked, his voice laced with concern.

"Yes, why?" Sara raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know, you just seem more reserved tonight. I thought maybe you weren't feeling well," he scrutinized her appearance. It was obvious that she was tired even in the way she held herself as she stood in front of him. He hoped it was just the long hours lately and not something more serious. It was also probably fallout from their fight the past couple of days. He knew he hadn't been sleeping too well himself.

"I'm just tired," she confirmed his suspicions.

"If you're not feeling well, I can send you home, you know," he offered.

"I'm fine Grissom, really. Besides, you can't be giving me preferential treatment, it'll make the others suspicious," she reiterated.

"Okay, well are you coming to the interrogation?" he asked.

"No, I have something else I wanted to take care of," she said.

"Oh, well then I'll see you later," he glanced around and then placed a quick kiss on her cheek.

Sara watched him leave the room and shook her head. Kissing each other in the layout room was one sure way of getting caught. Even when you were sure no one was watching, some lab tech was liable to see you. The lab had eyes and ears everywhere it seemed and Grissom of all people knew it. He was constantly driven nuts by the way gossip spread like wildfire. It wasn't that Sara necessarily minded being caught, their biggest obstacle would be Ecklie. If they were going to get married though, they'd be better off to wait until then because it'd be too late for Ecklie to do much of anything as the lab had no policy against married coworkers working together.

She headed out to the parking garage to take her own personal vehicle on this trip. There was no sense in taking a lab vehicle as this was not strictly work related. Grissom was fairly lax about letting them take a long break whenever they felt like it as long as they didn't take the lab's vehicles along with them and they were available when new cases came up. It was some new mandate from Ecklie about using them only for business and nothing personal. He claimed it was costing the city too much in gasoline costs for the CSIs to be off doing non-work related stuff in company vehicles. They could waste their own fuel all they wanted.

A/N: I had a wonderful first day at my new job and so since I'm in such a good mood, I decided to post another chapter today. And don't worry, you will still get one tomorrow. So I work at a doggy daycare and there's a boxer there named Bruno, isn't that funny? The Bruno at my job is such a sweetheart, but he's a real attention hog. He jumps up and literally hugs you, but if another dog gets in the way, he will shove them out of his way lol. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	10. Interrogation

**Chapter Ten: Interrogation**

The crowd of CSIs in the viewing room listened intently as Warrick, Nick and Captain Brass prodded information out of the suspect. They started off asking fairly harmless questions before really getting on him and pressuring him into admitting what really went on. It was standard practice to make a suspect feel fairly safe before jumping on them and asking the questions they really wanted answers to.

"Now, you told us that you switched lanes and you might have clipped a truck while you were taking your girlfriend to work. You said you didn't stop because she was late and you weren't even sure that you made contact. Is this the correct version of events?" Nick asked.

"Yes, that's what happened," Mark nodded.

"Interesting," Brass jumped in, "because it would seem that you gave your boss a different chain of events. He says you told him someone hit you from behind and that _this_ person is the one who left the scene."

"What was I supposed to say? Tell him 'I hit someone and I need you to fix my car to hide the damage.' I thought it was better to lie than tell the truth in that case," Mark shrugged.

"If you lied to your boss, why should we believe you're telling us the truth? Maybe lying comes naturally for you," Warrick snapped.

"I have nothing to gain from lying to you," Mark sighed, "my boss might have reported me to the police for leaving the scene of an accident."

"And now the police are on your case and you suddenly feel the need to tell the truth?" Nick questioned.

"Lying would get me into a lot of trouble. Besides, if I was going to lie to you guys, wouldn't you think that I'd deny hitting someone instead of admitting guilt? I'm getting myself into a hell of a lot more trouble by telling you what happened," Mark explained.

"Not everyone that we see in this room is a genius," Warrick pointed out, "so I'm sure you could have a lot of reasons for lying. Maybe it was your girlfriend who was driving and you're covering for her."

"Please," Mark snorted, "Gina doesn't have a driver's license and even if she did, she can't drive a stick."

"So she would corroborate your story then?" Brass asked.

"Yeah, just ask her. She was screeching at me to step on it and get her to work on time. I told her that if she didn't have to put on so much damned makeup that we could leave earlier. She got real mad at that and said she'd leave me if I stopped to see if I made contact with that truck," Mark sighed.

"Sounds like she might've done you a favor by leaving," Warrick smirked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mark asked, eyes narrowed.

"I think what he means is that she's a bad influence on you. You say she's the one who talked you into not stopping, which is what landed you here now," Nick clarified.

"We argue a lot, but so what? Lots of couples do. I'm telling you ask Gina, she'll tell you that I'm not lying to you guys," Mark crossed his arms.

"Fine, we'll give her a call and then get back to you," Brass motioned for the two CSIs to exit.

Mark Bay was left alone with a single uniformed police officer. He sat at the table with his arms crossed, almost looking like a pouting child. The CSIs in the viewing room turned to see the interrogators enter.

"I'm going to see if I can get a hold of Gina and then we'll go back in and hit him with the full story. Let's see if she corroborates his story and then we'll tell him that three people were killed as a result of his actions and we'll see if he changes his story then," Brass informed them.

"Meanwhile, we'll keep on eye on our friend and see if he starts to sweat," Greg motioned to the mirror that allowed them to watch and not be seen.

Left alone, Mark Bay shifted his weight nervously in his seat. He glanced around, as though he knew he was being watched. The CSIs in the viewing room were certain that his actions meant he knew he was in big trouble. It only took Captain Brass a few moments to place his phone call.

"Well it would seem that Miss Steele confirms her boyfriend's story that she encouraged him not to stop. She didn't want to be late to work and she told him that even if he had made contact, it was a big truck and it was likely unscathed," Brass shook his head, "she also confirmed that they had been arguing at the time. Of course they've had plenty of time since the accident to get together and make up a story. So I suppose it's time to go in and hit him with the full story and see if he changes anything."

"Good luck," Catherine said as the detective and two criminalists returned to the interrogation room.

"Well?" Mark asked, "did you talk to Gina? Did she tell you that I wasn't lying?"

"Mr. Bay, this is a police interrogation room. We're the ones who are supposed to be asking questions, not you," Brass warned.

"Sorry," Bay heaved a sigh, "but can I please ask you one more question?"

"I suppose so," Brass said.

"Look, I know it's bad to leave the scene of an accident and all, but what's the big deal? Why did you guys drag me all the way down here for questioning? You know I think you cost me my job," Mark shook his head.

"What's the big deal?" Nick asked, clearly annoyed, "the big deal is you committed a crime in leaving the scene."

"And there's more to the accident than you know, if you'd only bothered to stick around, you might have a different attitude," Warrick snapped.

"Do you watch the news at all, Mr. Bay?" Brass asked casually.

Mark Bay shrugged, "Not a big fan of the news, why?"

"Perhaps if you watched the news you would have known we were looking for you. When you sideswiped that truck, he swerved, overcorrected and lost control of his vehicle. He flew across the northbound lanes where he clipped an expensive car and smashed a sedan into the cement barrier killing a mother, father and son who were on their way home from the grocery store," Brass explained.

Mark's eyes grew wide, "You're lying!"

"Afraid not," Nick slid photos of the decimated Honda Accord to Bay.

"Oh my God," Mark gasped upon seeing the wreckage, "surely that's not from me cutting someone off?"

"That is why you never leave the scene of an accident," Warrick jumped in, "you will now be charged with careless driving resulting in three counts of involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident."

"What? But I didn't hit this car! How can I be charged with their deaths?" Bay was incredulous.

"We matched paint scrapings from your Explorer to the truck which caused the accident. It was a chain reaction, set off by you Mr. Bay," Brass told him, "you left the scene and now you're going to be charged with their deaths. Had you stayed on scene, you may have only been charged with careless driving."

"So you're going to arrest me now?" Mark asked.

"Yes, you're being placed under arrest now," Brass motioned for the uniform to come escort Mark Bay to a cell.

"This is ridiculous, I didn't kill anyone," Mark argued.

"It would be in your best interest to cooperate right now, Mr. Bay," Brass suggested, "don't make things any worse than they already are."

With that Bay fell silent and allowed the officer to cuff him and escort him down the hall towards the holding cells. Brass, Warrick and Nick met their fellow criminalists in the hall just outside the viewing room.

"I think we've got this case pretty well wrapped up," Greg smiled, "it almost never goes this easily."

"All that's left now is to bring in Miss Steele for contributing to the whole situation. I have a recorded admission that she's the one who convinced Bay to leave the scene," Brass grinned, "any judge will give me a warrant."

"Good," Grissom nodded, "we'll just have to process the remaining evidence in preparation for a court date."

* * *

A/N: Okay I am in no means a legal expert, but I do know that careless (aka reckless) driving is the correct charge here as is leaving the scene of an accident, but I don't know about the manslaughter. As far as I know manslaughter applies when the deaths were not intentional, but came as a result of reckless actions. If it's incorrect, forgive me and I hope it doesn't detract from the story. ;) 


	11. Sara's Errand

**Chapter Eleven: Sara's Errand**

As much as Sara would have liked to watch the questioning with her coworkers, she had something more pressing on her mind. Dr. Leonard had called the previous evening and left her a message. She'd had to wait until early morning for hospital visiting hours and now she was on her way to visit Bailey Daniels. She met Dr. Leonard in the reception area and followed him to Bailey's room.

"Thank you for coming back, Miss Sidle," Dr. Leonard shook her hand in greeting.

"Have you found any family members?" Sara inquired immediately.

"I'm afraid not. It would seem that poor Bailey is now all alone in this world. Her parents and brother were the only remaining members of the Daniels family. Any remaining relatives have passed away and I'm going to have to turn her over to Child and Family Services. She'll likely end up in foster care until someone adopts her. She's been terrified the whole time, often crying out for her mother," Dr. Leonard explained.

Sara felt her heart skip a beat when he mentioned foster care, "That's horrible. The system is no place for a frightened child who's just lost her entire family in a car accident."

"You know," he lowered his voice as they stopped in the hall, "I read the rescue worker's report. Mr. Daniels was DOA, but Mrs. Daniels was pinned in place. Jonathon was freed before she was and a rescue worker held her hand while they worked on getting Bailey out. Bailey cried until her mother soothed her and told her she was going to be all right. As soon as she was assured both children were safely out of the car, she slipped into unconsciousness and never woke up."

"Wow," Sara breathed, "I guess her instinct to protect her children kept her alive long enough to see that they were out."

Dr. Leonard nodded sadly, "Bailey knows her family was in a car accident. We've told her that her family was killed, but none of us knows for sure how much she understands. I think she'd appreciate a visit from a woman who is near her mother's age, just for some comforting words. I'll leave you with her, she's in stable condition. As soon as we observe her for a while to be safe and figure out where she's going, she'll be released."

"Thank you Dr. Leonard," Sara watched as he walked back to the elevators, off to return to his other patients. She took a deep breath and braced herself for what kind of scene might meet her on the other side of this doorway. She entered cautiously and was met by a very sad looking Bailey Daniels.

"No," Bailey whimpered upon seeing Sara, "no more shots!"

"No sweetie, I'm not a nurse, no needles," Sara showed her two empty hands.

"Good," Bailey let out a sigh of relief.

"My name is Sara," she introduced herself.

"My name's Bailey," the little girl responded.

"I know," Sara smiled, "I saw you the other day, but you probably didn't see me. I was here when you came out of your surgery."

"Oh," she nodded.

"I just wanted to come and visit you. I'm sure you're scared and alone in the hospital. I've been in the hospital before and it always makes me wish I had someone to just sit with me and read a story," Sara told the child.

"You bring a story?" Bailey asked.

"Silly me, I forgot to," Sara laughed, "but I see a book there on your bedside table."

"Cinderella," the girl nodded enthusiastically, "my favorite story. No one have time to read it to me."

"You're in luck, I have all kinds of time," Sara reached for the book.

Bailey grabbed a stuffed bear that lay at her side and made herself cozy as Sara began to read. Normally she wasn't the greatest person when it came to dealing with children, but she felt especially bad for this girl. She'd gone through a traumatic experience and now she was going to be placed into foster care. Although Sara was considerably older when she entered the system herself, she knew it was an awful life for a little girl. Perhaps it was because she'd thought she might be pregnant or perhaps it was because she was mentally ready to become a mother, but she felt a special attachment to this girl she barely knew.

Sara was only halfway through the story when Bailey began to nod off. Smiling, Sara sat the book back down; careful to mark her page and then she tucked the blankets up under Bailey's chin and turned to leave.

"Why you go?" a little voice rang out.

"Sorry hon, I have to go back to work," Sara apologized, "but don't worry, I'll come back and see you again."

"Okay," Bailey yawned, "I sleepy anyway."

It was close enough to the end of shift as Sara left the hospital that she decided to just head home instead of going back to the lab. She arrived home and took a quick, hot shower before lying down on the couch. She was waiting for Grissom to arrive when a sudden wave of sadness hit her. She cried for Bailey whose future was uncertain at best and she cried for the loneliness that the girl was going to face in her life. She was so young that she would in time get over the trauma, but when she got older she'd have lots of questions.

Bruno approached his master, sensing something was wrong. One thing about dogs that Sara had learned so far was that they had an acute sense of being able to read emotions. When she and Grissom were happy, Bruno was happy. But if they fought, he was quiet and lay in the corner, out of the way. Now as she sat on the couch, crying he slowly crept toward her and then gently licked the hand which was dangling over the edge of the couch. Then he nuzzled her leg and wagged his stubby tail as she got down on her knees and gathered him into a hug.

When Grissom came home, Sara was sitting on the floor in front of the couch absently stroking the dog's fur. Bruno lay with his chin resting on her lap and he was sighing contentedly as she rubbed his back. He could tell right away that she'd been crying.

"Sweetie, what is it?" Grissom asked with concern apparent in his tone.

"I went to the hospital to see Bailey Daniels," she immediately began to cry again.

Grissom helped her up off the floor and pulled her into a tight embrace. Sara cried into his shoulder and he held her, attempting to comfort her until she could calm down and explain to him what had happened. He gently guided her to the couch where they sat down together and she finally slowed her tears enough to speak clearly.

"I just, I feel so bad for her. She has no family left and they're going to put her in the system," Sara sniffled.

"Ohhh," Grissom said knowingly. Sara had been put into foster care after her mother had killed her father and he knew it was a miserable time in Sara's life. She'd had bad experiences while in foster care and had automatic empathy for children who were in the system as well.

"She's such a sweet, innocent child. Only three years old and she's lost her entire family," Sara sighed, "I hate to think of what might happen to her."

"I know it's been a long few days between the case and our argument," Grissom started, "why don't we just try to put all the bad stuff aside for now. I'm sure you won't be able to just forget the girl, but please, for now, let it drop. I want to cook breakfast for you, then if you feel like sleeping, we'll go to bed."

"Okay," Sara took a deep breath and followed Grissom into the kitchen while he began preparing a meal.

* * *

A/N: Sorry this chapter is up so late today. I had to work this morning and then I had to run an errand that should've taken half an hour tops and it ended up taking 2 hours thanks to screwy Mapquest directions, one way streets and traffic in Denver. :P Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter (one of you even managed to guess where Sara was going, though your name slips my mind at the moment lol). Then I got this all ready to upload and thought I posted it only to realize that, duh, I never did.  



	12. I Know Your Little Secret

**Chapter Twelve: I Know Your Little Secret**

A few days after Mark Bay and Gina Steele were arrested for their part in the car accident, Grissom had sent Catherine and Sara on a missing persons case in the suburbs. It took them a few hours to wrap up their case and then they had a long drive back to the lab.

"Did you patch things up with your man?" Catherine asked, "you've been in a better mood lately."

"Yeah," Sara nodded, "it was an argument. We both got mad, but we're over it now."

"Glad to hear it," Catherine said.

"It was a pretty big argument, but we were able to work through it. I think it's getting pretty serious though," Sara didn't know why she felt so comfortable talking to Catherine about this.

"I think I know your little secret," Catherine started suddenly.

"What?" Sara was confused.

"Your mysterious lover. I think I figured out who he is," Catherine smirked.

"Really?" Sara quirked an eyebrow, pretending to not know what she was talking about.

"Yeah, the other day when you walked into the room, Grissom immediately lit up and I saw the look you two gave each other. I didn't think much of it at first as there's always been an attraction between the two of you," Catherine explained, "then I came back to the layout room for something I'd left behind and I caught Grissom kissing you."

Sara gasped, "You saw that?" There was no sense denying anything now. Catherine had either done a damn good job of faking Sara out or she'd really figured it out.

"Yep. You guys should know better than to do or say anything in the lab. Before you know it, the whole place will know," Catherine laughed, "it's amazing how the rumors fly."

"I know," Sara grimaced, "you're not going to tell anyone are you?"

Catherine sensed she was mostly concerned about Ecklie, "Nope. I have no desire to be a part of any rumor mill, true or not."

Sara breathed a sigh of relief, "It's not like we wanted to hide it from all of you. It's just, you know how Ecklie is. We're lucky he lets us work the same shift now, if he knew we lived together, he'd go bananas."

"So, how long have you lived together?" Catherine inquired.

Sara sighed, "For about six months now, in a small house."

"No wonder you kept dodging all those times the guys asked to come over to your apartment, you're not living there anymore!" Catherine laughed.

"Yeah. I couldn't exactly take them home and have them walk in to find Grissom on the couch, doing a crossword puzzle. It's simple enough to say I moved, but then if I did that they'd be offended that I didn't tell them sooner or want to have a housewarming party. Trust me, I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out a way around it," Sara shook her head, "the guys are just too smart. But apparently not quite as much as you."

"Thanks," Catherine smirked, "but you'd pretty much have to be blind not to see that there's something between you and Grissom. I think everyone's sensed it for years, as I said. The boys are just not quite as in tune to the subtleties of Grissom as I am from working with him…basically forever."

"Do you think any of them have it figured out?" Sara was concerned.

"Nope. If they knew, they'd want to torture you guys with it," Catherine assured her.

"Yeah, I bet they'd have Greg start hitting on me, saying he still had a crush on me or something," Sara rolled her eyes.

"Or worse," Catherine said, "but seriously, don't worry. I won't even mention to Grissom that I know. I'll let you guys tell everyone in your own way."

"Oh I think that may be sooner than anyone would imagine," Sara smiled.

"Really?" Catherine's interest was piqued.

"I've already told you far too much," Sara said dramatically.

"Sounds like a damned soap opera about to unfold," Catherine signaled their turn into the lab parking lot.

"Who knows," Sara shrugged mysteriously.

The two ladies unloaded all their evidence and carried it inside the lab to be logged into the evidence vault. The case was closed, but it was standard procedure to hang onto the evidence just in case something was missed or overlooked. Their shift was ending as they checked all their stuff into the vault and so they headed to the locker room together.

"I still can't believe the police up there filed a missing person's report on someone who'd been gone for two hours," Sara shook her head, "and then they called us in. I was so mad when the grandmother just walked back in like nothing had happened."

"Better safe than sorry with a woman who has Alzheimer's," Catherine reminded her, "besides, I once had a missing person case turn out to be a missing painting."

"At least there was still a crime committed in that case," Sara sighed, "this time Grandma just wanted to go out and play Bingo with her buddies."

Catherine laughed, "Yeah the whole thing was a waste of time. We spent a good couple hours questioning the family and trying to think of any reason why she'd run away."

"She sure as hell looked mad when we started questioning her too. Thought we were trying to take away her independence. I think she needs a cell phone and her son needs to calm down," Sara said.

"But his 'mother was a sensitive lady' and she 'could get lost easily'," Catherine mocked the son's words, "I don't think I've ever heard a case of an overprotective son. Overprotective mothers are a dime a dozen, but most people just put parents that age into a home."

"Yeah," Sara replied, thinking she'd never have to bother. Her mother had been in mental wards and jails for most of the last part of Sara's life. It was only recently that she found out her mother was out and neither one had bothered to try and contact each other. Frankly, that was fine with Sara because she had no desire to speak to her mother after what had happened in her childhood.

"I don't have to worry about that with Sam," Catherine sighed, remembering her father's brutal murder in front of her eyes, "not that I think he would have ever let me do that anyway. And my mom is not anywhere near that point yet. She's still too busy mothering me."

"I don't have to worry about my parents either," Sara shrugged, "haven't heard from them in ages."

"That's a shame. Although sometimes I wish I'd never found out Sam was my father. He had a way of complicating my life even when he had the best of intentions," Catherine noted.

"Hello ladies," Greg popped out from behind another row of lockers.

"Greg! How long were you listening to us talk?" Sara snapped.

"Oh please, I wasn't listening to your boring conversation; I had my iPod blasting Marilyn Manson. I just heard voices a second ago when I took it off," he explained.

"Uh huh," Catherine nodded.

"Seriously," Greg pulled out a little black and silver device as proof.

"Anyway, I don't know about Sara, but I was just heading out," Catherine rose from her seat on the bench and put her work shoes back into her locker.

"I had one more thing to take care of, but I'll be out of here soon," Sara closed her locker.

"No one wants to join me for breakfast?" Greg asked.

"Nope," Catherine brushed past him and left.

"Ouch," Greg pretended to be hurt, "am I that bad?"

"Sometimes," Sara smirked, "as for me, I'm not hungry, sorry."

"Fine," Greg said wistfully, "I'll be dining alone…_again_."

"Just listen to your iPod, it'll keep you company," Sara too pushed past him and left him standing alone.

* * *

A/N: Again I meant to post this chapter earlier, but I got caught up in the hype of the hockey season starting up. My favorite team (the Colorado Avalanche) are playing their first game of the season tonight. Go Avs! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I haven't forgotten about the proposal either…it's coming soon. :D


	13. Aftermath

**Chapter Thirteen: Aftermath**

As much as it pained Catherine and Sara, they knew that charges were going to be leveled on Frank Martinez as well. He should have been able to keep his vehicle more under control instead of barreling forward and smashing the Honda. They knew he was already incredibly guilty and feeling horrible, but he was going to be charged with reckless driving resulting in bodily harm. It was a lesser charge than they could have given Martinez, but he was responsible and did remain on the scene. He immediately took responsibility for his own poor reactions and he had to be held legally responsible.

Grissom testified at a preliminary hearing for Mark Bay and Gina Steele. Mark was being charged with careless driving, three counts of manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident and tampering with evidence in his attempt to cover it up. Gina was charged with conspiracy for her part in the whole mess. The prosecutor at the preliminary hearing seemed pleased with the work the CSIs had done and assured them that this was going to be a fairly easy case to try.

In the meantime, Sara visited Bailey Daniels every day that she was in the hospital and continued to read the story of Cinderella to her. When they finished that story, Sara bought another book of fairy tales to read to the girl. As much as she knew she shouldn't, Sara felt herself becoming more and more attached to the little girl.

"Oh. Good story!" Bailey clapped her little hands together. Her injured arm was in a purple cast, which she informed Sara was her favorite color. Upon Bailey's request, Sara had signed her cast. Though the child was still in limbo as to her future, she had a bright attitude and her injuries didn't seem to bother her much.

"I like that one too," Sara smiled, "shall we read another?"

"No, I'm bored. Can we go outside?" Bailey asked innocently enough.

"I'm not sure, I think I'll have to ask your doctor," Sara told her, "it's not up to me, you know."

"Okay, ask!" Bailey demanded.

Sara laughed, "All right, if you insist."

"I isist," Bailey nodded.

Sara went down the hall to the nurses' station and informed them of Bailey's request. The nurses looked skeptical, but one of them agreed to call Dr. Leonard. It only took a few minutes for Dr. Leonard to appear from his office.

"Hello Sara, how are you today?" he asked.

"I'm good," Sara replied, "Bailey was asking to go outside. She's been cooped up in here for a few days now and I think she's itching to get out of those four walls."

"Hmmm," Dr. Leonard thought for a moment, "I think you're right, it would be good for her spirits. Besides, I just talked to DCFS and someone will be taking her for evaluation and place her into special foster care tonight. They need to be mindful of her fragile emotional state and be willing to care for an injured child. It could be a while before she's able to go outside and really play, but she's taken a definite liking to you and I would escort you since I'm on my lunch break."

"Great," Sara smiled, "she'll be thrilled."

"Just let me grab a wheel chair and we'll head to the little park across the street. She can't exactly climb around, but sitting outside will be good enough for now," the doctor said.

Sara and the doctor reentered Bailey's room with the wheelchair.

"Uh oh," Bailey frowned at the doctor's appearance. She had associated him with pain and yucky medicines.

"No, no this is a good thing. We're going to take you out to the park for a little while," Sara explained.

"Really?" Bailey's face lit up.

"Yes," Dr. Leonard nodded.

"Yay!" Bailey exclaimed as the pair carefully lifted her to the wheelchair.

Sara and Dr. Leonard took Bailey down and across the street to the small park. She delighted in the fact that she was outside and not stuck in the hospital room for a while. Bailey looked longingly at the swings, but knew she wasn't going to be playing on them for a while. She excitedly pointed out a big bird to Sara that looked like the one from a story they'd just recently read.

Although their time in the park was short, Bailey seemed to have really enjoyed it. It was a shame to Sara to know that soon she'd end up in a foster home. It would hopefully be a decent home as Bailey was going to be special needs for a little while. It was really hard to say goodbye without getting upset because Sara didn't want to tell Bailey this was the last time they'd see each other. There was no sense in upsetting the child and ruining an otherwise good day for her. After goodbyes with Bailey, she thanked Dr. Leonard and they both hoped for the best for the child.

Things at the lab were pretty much business as usual. Greg cracked silly jokes when he had the opportunity, but still he had grown up from his days as a lab tech and was quite capable of being serious on the job. Sara finally went out for drinks with Catherine, Greg, Nick and Warrick. Catherine assisted her in steering the conversation away from going back to Sara's place and later casually suggested they drop by her own place instead.

Grissom mulled over how exactly he was going to propose to Sara. He wanted it to be romantic as he'd promised, but he was afraid Sara was right. He would need help for it to be perfect. He went to the one and only person he knew he could trust when it came to romantic matters: Catherine. He was surprised to find out that she already knew about the relationship via Sara. Catherine was glad to help him out and happy to hear they were getting engaged. She made several suggestions of restaurants where the two could have a romantic dinner that also included a decent vegetarian menu for Sara.

"I'm sure you'll do fine with this proposal Gil. No matter how you say it, Sara's in love with you and she'll say yes. Don't worry about finding the perfect words, let your heart do the speaking for you and most of all, be honest," Catherine instructed him.

"Okay," he nodded, "thank you for suggesting the vegetarian restaurants. She's always going to the places I like and having to settle for salads or the occasional veggie burger."

"Oh you have to make it all about her. She may figure it out before you actually pop the question, but like you said, you want it to be a memorable night," she said.

"I don't know what I would do without you, Catherine. You're always helping me out, professionally and personally. And I don't have to worry about you spreading gossip to everyone," he stood and hugged his old friend.

"You would be totally lonely and Sara would have left the lab years ago," Catherine joked.

"Sarcastic or not, you're probably right," Grissom sighed, "so honestly, thank you for everything you do for me, every favor you've done. I don't know if I thank you enough."

"You're welcome, I help you out because you're a good man, Gil," she smiled, "so good luck with your proposal, let me know how it turns out."

* * *

A/N: No proposal yet, but at least you know I didn't forget about it. I just had to give Grissom a chance to figure out what the heck he's going to do. I made sure to get this chapter up early today so you can have time to enjoy CSI tonight. As for the story as a whole, the last chapter is currently in the works (but don't worry, there's plenty more to come). 


	14. Playing Hooky

**Chapter Fourteen: Playing Hooky**

"Grissom, why are you still up? Shouldn't you get to bed if you're working tonight?" Sara asked, upon entering their bedroom.

He shrugged, "I've been thinking about just calling in tonight. I haven't used any sick days in a while. Then we can spend an evening together like normal people. Usually when we spend time together, we have to eat breakfast or lunch and can't go out for a nice dinner."

Sara gasped dramatically, "You would lie to Ecklie and tell him you're sick?!"

"To spend a night with my hot girlfriend?" he grinned, "watch me."

Sara lay on the bed and listened in as he called the lab. He managed a decent sounding fake cold and said he could come if they really needed it, but he thought he might have a migraine coming on as well. She could tell whoever he was speaking to was a little suspicious, but they seemed to buy his story.

"Problem solved, I just called when Ecklie wasn't there," he grinned.

"Oh Grissom, you're bad," Sara giggled sarcastically.

"Yeah," he rolled his eyes, "you know me, a regular bad ass."

Sara burst into genuine laughter at this statement. She laughed for several minutes, at one point so hard tears were actually rolling down her cheeks. When she finally caught her breath again, Grissom was glaring at her.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, hun," he shook his head.

"Anytime, darling," she grinned, "so did you have something specific in mind for tonight or was this a spur of the moment thing?"

"Oh, I've got something in mind, but I'm afraid I can't tell you," he said mysteriously.

"I see," she raised an eyebrow.

"Why don't we both take Bruno for a short walk now, that way he'll be tired and we won't have to worry about him later," Grissom suggested.

"Okay," Sara got her comfortable tennis shoes on as Grissom got dressed.

They hooked the leash onto Bruno's collar and left for a short stroll around the neighborhood. There was a little park two blocks away and Bruno loved to sniff all the bushes and trees. Sara unhooked the leash and let him roam freely for a little while. The park was fenced in and Bruno never took off too far from them anyway.

After they returned, Grissom suggested that they take a shower together and then instructed Sara to dress in something nice so they could go have dinner. Sara was curious, but already had an idea that this was part of his proposal. She didn't want to ruin his surprise, however, so she kept that thought to herself. Confusingly, Grissom also suggested she bring some more comfortable clothes to change into for 'later'.

Grissom took them to a nice restaurant which featured a wonderful vegetarian menu in addition to plenty of non-vegetarian dishes. Sara really appreciated that he chose a restaurant to suit both of their appetites. She often ended up eating at restaurants where salad was the only real veggie option. All throughout dinner, Grissom smiled and held her hand across the table. Sara kept expecting that he would pull out a ring and propose to her at some point, but they as they were finishing up dessert, she figured he might've gotten cold feet. Or else it was possible that he just wanted a romantic dinner together and he really hadn't planned anything special.

After they finished eating, he told her that they were going somewhere else, but insisted on keeping it a secret. Sara was thoroughly confused as they drove out of the city and headed toward the mountains.

"Okay, Grissom, seriously, where are we going?" Sara asked finally.

He sighed, "I suppose it won't hurt to tell you now. I know that you love nature, so I decided that we would take a hike together to go watch the sunset in the mountains."

"Wow, that's so romantic," she smiled, "I love it."

"We're almost there," he placed a hand on her exposed knee.

"Now I know why you had me bring the comfortable clothes. There's no way I'd be hiking in this dress," Sara laughed.

"Exactly, and I'm not hiking in this suit either," he said, knowingly.

A short drive later, they pulled into an empty parking lot where they both went into the restroom and changed their clothes. When they came out, they put their fancy clothes in the trunk of Grissom's car and headed up the nearby trailhead. The sun hung low in the sky as they headed up the trail and Grissom handed Sara a flashlight for when it was dark. She was impressed by how prepared he was.

"We're getting close to our destination," Grissom lead her down the right-hand fork of the trail.

"I didn't know you got out and hiked much," Sara said.

"I don't," he admitted, "a friend told me about this place once."

"I see," she shrugged.

They came out into a clearing where a log and a couple of large rocks sat near the edge of an overhang. Much to Sara's surprise, Grissom moved ahead of her and climbed up the slope of the rock.

"Aren't you coming, dear?" he asked.

"Yeah," she followed him and found him sitting in a depression at the top of the rock.

"Care to join me for a sunset?" he asked.

"Why, I'd love to," she grinned.

As they sat together on the rock, the sun sank lower and lower into the western sky, painting brilliant shades of orange and pink on the few clouds that hung in the sky.

Sara took a deep breath and slowly released, "It's absolutely beautiful, I'm glad you brought me here."

"It is wonderful," he agreed, "I'd love to spend every sunset from now on with you by my side."

Sara's eyes widened and she sat up straighter, "Griss…"

"I told you I'd blow you away," he smiled, pulling a small box out of his pocket, "Sara Sidle, will you marry me?"

"Oh yes, Grissom, yes I'd love to!" she exclaimed as he opened the box.

Instead of seeing a ring, Sara was confused by Grissom's sudden withdrawal of the box. He furrowed his brow and she was utterly thrown off.

"What the hell?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, it's the ring. It's gone," he flipped around the empty box to show her.

"Oh," her face softened, "did you put it somewhere else and forget?"

"No," he scowled, "I kept in this box, just so this moment would be perfect. Now I've gone and ruined it by losing the ring. I can't believe it."

"Gil, did you even hear what I said?" Sara asked.

"Ohhh!" he suddenly realized that Sara had accepted his proposal, "Oh my God. I was so freaked out about the ring that I didn't even realize you said yes."

"It's okay, I love you anyway," she smiled, "and I don't need the ring for this to be official. I'm sure you'll find it."

"I love you too," he leaned in and they kissed as the sun finally slipped beneath the horizon.

"It wasn't perfect, but I don't care," she said when they broke apart.

* * *

A/N: So I got called in to work at 4 o'clock. I figured I'd be home before CSI came on (because we close at 7:30PM). Well after a series of bad decisions (leaving the two of us who have only worked to close up the place lol) I didn't get home until 8:45 (aka CSI almost over). So fortunately, I had the foresight to record CSI and as my failsafe, Comcast always puts the episodes onDemand, so some time tomorrow I'll sit down and watch the episode. Well, there was the proposal…but wait! There's more, the next chapter gets interesting…I'll leave it at that. :D


	15. The Trouble with Bruno

**Chapter Fifteen: The Trouble With Bruno**

After the sun disappeared from the sky, they used their flashlights to light the path as they descended back to where Grissom's car was parked. Of course the evening hadn't gone exactly as he'd planned, but Sara didn't seem to care. As he drove back toward the city lights, they held hands and Sara smiled at him the whole time.

They arrived home and had planned to continue their romantic evening together. Sara flipped the lights on in the entryway as they took off their shoes. Any plans they had immediately fell apart as they spotted Bruno lying on his side, breathing heavily.

"Oh no," Sara dropped to her knees, "there's something wrong with him."

Grissom sensed great worry in her tone and felt his own concern growing, "What's the matter boy?"

Bruno could barely lift his head and flipped his short tail once weakly. Grissom placed a hand on the dog's head and immediately recoiled at the warmth.

"He's got a fever," he announced.

"What do we do?" Sara asked, "He's sick. We've got to get him to a vet."

"You're right," Grissom agreed, "I'll go get the phone book."

Sara nodded and sat by the dog's side. They'd taken Bruno to a vet only after they first got him for an overall health checkup and for puppy immunizations. He'd been healthy ever since and they hadn't needed to return. Besides, it was past normal office hours, so they'd likely have to go to a pet hospital.

Grissom returned, "Okay, I found a place not too far from here that's open. He's gotten into the trash and probably ate something that made him sick. He threw up several times in the kitchen; I didn't have time to clean it up."

Grissom knelt and gently lifted the dog into his arms and winced as the dog moaned. He hated to hurt his poor pup, but they had to seek medical attention. Sara went ahead of him and held the door open, then opened up the car so Grissom could lay the dog on the back seat. She ran back and locked up the house, then slipped into the passenger's seat beside Grissom.

It only took a couple minutes to drive to the Las Vegas Animal Hospital and Sara once again held doors open as Grissom carried their boxer.

"Whoa, what seems to be wrong with your dog here?" a woman dressed in scrubs asked as they entered what appeared to be a reception area.

"We think he got into the trash and ate something that made him sick," Sara explained.

"He threw up several times at home and just now in the car," Grissom added.

"Okay, follow me sir, if you don't mind, I'll take you to an exam room and then we can get you checked in," the woman led them down a short corridor.

She opened a door and instructed for Grissom to place the dog on the table in the center of the room. She excused herself briefly and left the pair of CSIs sitting with their sick dog.

"Let me properly introduce myself," she announced upon her return, "my name is Michelle Smith; I'm a vet tech here."

"I'm Gil Grissom and this is Sara Sidle. Our dog is Bruno, he's a one year old boxer," Grissom explained.

"Okay, Mr. Grissom, Miss Sidle, do you know if there was anything like chocolate or chicken bones in the trash? These are the most common trouble makers for dogs that ingest them," Michelle asked.

The pair exchanged a look and Sara replied, "I'm not sure."

"All right, well you two wait here, I'm going to escort Bruno to the back where we can get a better idea of what's wrong with him," Michelle explained, "don't worry, he'll be in good hands. Dr. Keane is on staff tonight and he's one of the best."

The tech carried Bruno effortlessly out of the back entrance to the room, leaving Grissom and Sara alone. They were both worried about their dog and just held hands silently as they awaited word on his condition. Sara leaned onto Grissom and rested her head on his shoulder.

"So much for a romantic night, huh?" he asked softly.

"Guess Bruno had other ideas," Sara sighed.

"He's going to be fine, I'm sure," Grissom reassured her.

"Yeah, it's just he's never been sick or hurt before. I never realized how much it would worry me," she wiped away the lone tear which had slipped down her cheek.

"I've heard people say they feel like their pets are part of the family," he shrugged, "I think Bruno is definitely a part of ours."

After several agonizing minutes of silence, the door where Bruno and the vet tech exited reopened revealing an older man with graying hair.

"Hello folks, I'm Dr. Joseph Keane, the head veterinarian here at LVAH. In order to determine what Bruno got into and to make sure he didn't swallow anything that could cause an intestinal obstruction, we need to do a couple of x-rays. These x-rays run approximately $100 each, so we need your consent for treatment," the man explained.

"We'll do it," Sara immediately responded.

"All right, Bruno's probably going to be fine. He most likely just ate something that really disagreed with him and he's paying the price now. Dogs are notorious for eating trash and making themselves sick. Most of the time, it's not as severe as Bruno and if his x-rays come up clean, we're still going to want to hold him for a little while to give him some IV fluids so he doesn't become dehydrated," Dr. Keane told them, "I'll be back after we develop the film and we'll see what we're looking at here."

"Okay," Grissom nodded and the doctor left.

"You're not mad that I said yes, are you?" Sara asked.

"No, this might get a little expensive, but it's worth it," Grissom said.

A short while later, Dr. Keane returned holding a couple x-rays, which he placed on the light screen, "So, is one of you two missing some jewelry?"

Grissom was about to respond when he remembered the missing engagement ring, "Yes, I lost the ring I was going to propose to her with."

"Ah," Dr. Keane nodded, "well I found it."

He flipped a switch and the x-ray lit up. In what appeared to be Bruno's upper intestines was a distinctive round metal object.

"Oh my God," Sara gasped, "Bruno ate my ring?!"

"It would appear so," Dr. Keane laughed.

"Great," Grissom sighed, "at least I know I didn't lose my mind."

"Now, the ring is not doing Bruno any harm. He's liable to pass the ring completely on his own, but you should bring him back in two days if you haven't found it yet," Dr. Keane started.

"Found it? You mean…" Sara's eyes grew wide.

"We have to check his?" Grissom asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid so, that's the best method of finding the ring," the veterinarian said apologetically, "as for his vomiting, I'm not sure what else he ate that's made him so sick, but with some IV hydration, he should be feeling much better. He hasn't thrown up again since we've examined him, so whatever it is probably went out of his system."

"So for the next two days, every time he goes to the bathroom, we have to check it for the ring?" Sara seemed horrified.

"Yes, but it could easily take up to 6 or 7 days for the ring to pass. It's not food, so it won't pass through the system necessarily as quickly as food would," the vet explained, "we're almost done running an IV and then you should all be able to go home. If he's not up and feeling better in the morning, you can bring him back. I'm not too concerned that he'll need a return trip though."

"Okay, thank you Dr. Keane," Grissom shook the vet's hand.

Michelle, the vet tech returned and escorted Grissom and Sara out to the main lobby's waiting area. Grissom stood at the counter and waited as their bill was printed up. Sara sat on a bench and waited for the tech to return with their dog.

"It's a good thing we love that dog," Grissom sighed as he took a spot next to Sara, "this little fiasco has cost us nearly $300."

Sara choked, "Are you serious?"

"$200 for x-rays, $50 for emergency visit, and $38 for the IV fluids they've given him," he detailed.

"Stupid dog," she shook her head, "but you're right, I love him anyway."

Grissom smiled and put his arm across her back.

The vet tech came out once more with Bruno in tow. As she approached his owners, the dog immediately perked up, wagging his tail and giving them both a couple of licks in greeting. He was clearly tired out from his illness and subsequent stressful trip to the hospital. Sara took the leash and they loaded Bruno into their car and went home.

* * *

A/N: Aha! So we know what happened to the ring now. I got the idea for Bruno swallowing the ring from watching Emergency Vets where this dog swallowed a nail and the owner had to search for it every time the dog went to the bathroom. So the veterinary stuff is based on that episode and my own knowledge (as I am a pre-veterinary student in college). Thanks for all the great reviews of chapter 14, hope you enjoyed this one. 


	16. The Waiting Is NOT The Hardest Part

**Chapter Sixteen: The Waiting Is NOT the Hardest Part**

When they got home and it came time for Bruno to use the bathroom, Grissom and Sara argued about who was going to search for the ring. Sara ultimately won when she pointed out that it was Grissom who lost the ring, not her.

"I guess he must have gotten at the ring when I had it hidden under the bed," Grissom sighed, "my shoes were a little chewed up too."

"I can't believe you didn't check to see if it was in there when you picked it up to bring along on the proposal," Sara laughed, "it was kind of a crucial piece of the puzzle."

"No one knew it was there. I didn't think I should have to look. I still don't know how he got it out of there and then closed the lid again, but maybe I reached under there to get my shoes and bumped it closed again," Grissom shrugged, "I guess it's time to let him out now."

She gleefully handed him a pair of gloves from her field kit and told him to, "Enjoy."

"Oh yeah. Of all the things I have to deal with at work, I want to come home and sift through fresh, warm dog shit for an engagement ring," Grissom sighed.

"Next time you won't be leaving anything important where Bruno can get at it," she shrugged.

"How was I supposed to know he would eat a ring?!" he exclaimed.

"You weren't, but now you know he has a taste for expensive things," she snickered.

"Don't worry, if the ring's not in there, next time it's all you," he smirked.

"In the meantime, you better go because someone looks antsy," she gestured to the impatient dog.

Grissom disappeared for several minutes. When he returned he looked utterly disgusted and Bruno looked confused.

"That was awful," Grissom shuddered, "the whole time Bruno was staring at me like I was nuts."

Sara cracked up, "Well, what you did is not exactly normal."

"No luck yet," he shook his head.

"Dr. Keane said it could take up to a week," she reminded him.

"Oh God, I hope not," he furrowed his brows, "I'm not doing _that_ 7 times."

"Sometimes he goes twice a day," she chuckled.

"Yes, but you'll be doing half of them," he grinned, "next one is all you."

"I take it you disposed of the gloves in the trashcan out back?" she asked.

"Yeah, you didn't want me to save them did you?" he inquired.

"No! Please, we have an endless supply of gloves from work. No one will know or care if we borrow a few pairs," she said.

"I thought it was bad picking up after him at the park. You can feel the warmth through those bags, but trust me, this was worse. Did you know he also ate some corn apparently?" Grissom asked.

"Ew! I'd rather not discuss this, if you don't mind," Sara wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Sorry. I guess neither one of us in a romantic mood anymore either," he sighed, "I for one am going to take a shower."

"Yeah, after cleaning up all that dog puke, I'm with you on that one," she agreed.

"You, stay out of trouble mister!" he warned the dog.

Bruno hung his head in shame. He knew that he had done something wrong and he was probably going to be sleeping on the floor _outside_ the bedroom tonight. He lay down on the kitchen floor next to his water bowl and lapped up a bit of the cool liquid.

"I never thought having a pet could be such a nightmare at times," Grissom rolled his eyes after they were clean and laying across their bed.

"It's just like having a little kid sometimes. They get into things they shouldn't and you worry about them when they're sick," Sara explained.

"If I didn't love that little fuzz ball so much, I'd be a lot angrier," he shook his head.

"With any luck he'll pass the ring before we have to go back for more x-rays," she said hopefully, "though I'm not looking forward to the search."

"Me either," he agreed.

For a few moments they just enjoyed a comfortable silence. They were pretty tired from their whole night. It was hard to imagine that only a few hours ago, they were focused entirely on themselves and their engagement. Then they came home to discover the dog was sick and now there was the disgusting search for Sara's ring to be done.

Before they even realized it, they had both fallen asleep. Grissom woke up before Sara the next morning and decided to let Bruno out so he could look for the ring and once again had no luck in finding it. He did, however, ruin his appetite for breakfast.

Later at work that evening, Grissom had handed out assignments and headed to his office to see if there was any important paperwork that he'd missed out on the previous night. The CSIs had all seemed suspicious that Grissom looked fine, when just the previous night he'd called in sick. Only Sara knew the real reason and of course Catherine suspected that he'd finally proposed except Sara wasn't wearing a ring. It was possible she'd decided not to wear it to work, but thought she'd ask them about it anyway.

Sara followed Grissom to his office, "So one of us is going to have to go home in the middle of the shift to check on Bruno."

"I know," he nodded, "I was thinking it should be your turn."

"Me?!" Sara asked, "why?"

"I checked last night and this morning! It's only fair for you to have a turn or two now," he replied.

"Fine," she conceded, "just remind me in a couple hours to go home."

"Of course," he smiled, "I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did."

They were interrupted by a brief knock on the door and Sara spun in time to see Catherine enter, "Hello."

"Hi Catherine, is there a problem with your assignment?" Grissom inquired.

"No," she lowered her voice, "can I close the door?"

"Sure," Grissom nodded.

Catherine closed the door, "So?"

"So what?" Sara asked.

"So why did Grissom call in last night?" Catherine returned.

"I decided last night would be perfect to propose to Sara," he explained.

"It was wonderful, until he got to the actual proposal and he didn't have the ring," Sara put in.

"Yeah, I noticed you aren't wearing it," Catherine nodded.

Sara looked briefly confused before Grissom jumped in, "I asked for Catherine's opinion and help to set up the perfect proposal."

"Really? I admitted to Catherine that we were together recently," Sara smiled, "I guess we both trust the same person."

"I know, she told me she got it out of you," Grissom said.

"So, what happened to the ring?" Catherine asked.

Grissom and Sara exchanged a look, before she replied, "You don't want to know."

"Oh now I have to know," Catherine gave them both a questioning look.

Grissom sighed, "I had the ring hidden, of course, so Sara wouldn't find it. When I pulled out the ring box to do the proposal, the ring was gone. So I shrugged it off temporarily as we celebrated Sara saying yes. Then we got home and immediately noticed something was wrong with our dog."

"You have a dog?!" Catherine asked, not having either of them pegged as pet people.

"Yes, Bruno a one year old boxer," Grissom nodded.

"So anyway, he was lying on the floor in pain and then we saw that he'd thrown up all over the place. Grissom found an emergency vet hospital and we took him in. They told us he'd gotten into all kinds of food and that's what made him sick. They did some x-rays just to be safe and guess what showed up on the film?" Sara finished.

"No!" Catherine exclaimed, "the dog ate your ring?!"

"Yep," Grissom rolled his eyes, "and now we get to watch and see if he passes it on his own."

Catherine's face fell, "Wow."

"Yeah, so we're waiting a week to see if it comes out or else we have to take him back and have surgery to remove it," Sara shook her head in disgust, "and it's my turn to go home in the middle of shift and take the dog to the bathroom."

"Yikes, have fun with that," Catherine laughed, "anyway, congratulations you two!"

"Thanks," Grissom smiled.

"I almost forgot that we just got engaged with Bruno's emergency and all," Sara said.

"When will you tell the rest of the team?" Catherine inquired.

"I was thinking we'd invite everyone to breakfast after shift," Grissom shrugged, "now's as good a time as any. Ring or no ring, we're engaged."

* * *

A/N: I had to tweak this chapter a little bit and that's why it's being posted so late. Thanks again for all the reviews, every time I open my inbox, there's new ones in there and I love it. Other than that, I don't have much to say this time around. 


	17. No Way!

**Chapter 17: No Way! **

As promised, Sara went home to check on Bruno in the middle of shift. He went to the bathroom and she searched, but still had no luck on finding the ring. She figured they'd probably end up going back for at least one more set of x-rays. She re-filled the dog's water dish and then returned to work to update Grissom, who had been forced to catch up on paperwork when Ecklie dropped by and found out he was magically all better.

"I guess he felt that since I never take any personal days he'd let it drop this time," Grissom shrugged.

"Weird, Ecklie's been surprisingly human lately," Sara said.

"Yeah, I'm waiting for it to all blow up in my face," he grimaced, "I just hope it's not over you and me."

"Speaking of us, you still want to go to breakfast and tell everyone?" she asked.

"Actually," he put his pen down, "I was thinking, we should just invite them over to our place."

Sara gasped, "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I mean, we're breaking the big news to them, we might as well go all out and have them over. Besides, maybe we can have Greg help us look for the ring," he laughed, "more CSI hazing."

She grinned, "Oh yeah, that'll go over well. Hey, we invited you to _our_ house, so the least you can do is follow our dog around and see if he happens to pass my engagement ring."

"Okay maybe not," he chuckled, "but as for having them over, why not? If they're going to know about us getting married, they're going to know we live together. You mentioned yourself not so long ago that you felt bad for not being able to invite the guys over after a long shift."

"Hmm, I never thought you'd be the one to suggest it, but I think it's a wonderful idea," she nodded her approval, "I better stop by the store on the way home though. We're going to need some more food if we're having that many guests over."

"Yeah, I was actually thinking of taking my lunch break to go home and straighten up a little bit before we have them over," he shrugged, "it's not exactly messy, but we've never had company either, so I want it to look nice."

"Good idea," she said.

As usual when they were in Grissom's office discussing matters that the rest of the team was not to hear, there was a knock at the door.

"I swear to God, Greg, you have an uncanny ability to appear when you're least wanted," Sara rolled her eyes.

"And a friendly hello to you to," he smiled, "I just came to tell Grissom that I wrapped up my case, but I'll come back later if I'm interrupting something."

"No, not all," Grissom motioned him forward, "in fact I was just mentioning to Sara that we haven't had a team breakfast together in a long time."

"Really?" Greg asked, "I was just asking her and Catherine to go eat with me the other day and no one wanted to."

"I haven't asked the others yet, but I was thinking it would be good for the team as a whole to sit down and have a meal together," Grissom explained.

"I'll be there, just tell me when and where," Greg said.

"So, any trouble with your case then?" Grissom asked.

"No, it went very smoothly. Catherine told me to ask you if I could go help her out with her case though," Greg explained.

"That's fine," Grissom nodded.

"Okay, just let me know where to meet after shift and I'm in," Greg reminded him.

Once he disappeared, Grissom decided to call the other CSIs to invite them and Sara went to find Nick and see if he had the DNA and trace results from their case yet. They decided that he'd text them all directions to their home after shift, but not tell them it was a house they were going to. They'd let the criminalists all assume it was some new restaurant since Grissom had mentioned at the diner last time that he really didn't care for the food there anymore.

Grissom finished up his paperwork and left the lab about half an hour before the rest of the CSIs were off shift. He figured that they'd take a little while to get finished up as they never got off exactly at the time when the shifts changed. Sometimes people were far out in the field or just couldn't get off their case immediately. Sara was to finish up whatever she and Nick were working on and leave not too far behind him so she could stop off at the grocery store on the way home.

Catherine drove Nick, Warrick and Greg to their breakfast meeting location. She had a good idea that it was going to be Grissom and Sara's home, but didn't want to ruin the surprise for the others. She was impressed that not only were they announcing their engagement, but if they were inviting the CSIs to their home it was a big step. Grissom was not exactly known for welcoming everyone into his own home.

"What the hell?" Greg exclaimed as Catherine turned into a residential neighborhood.

"Yeah, I thought we were meeting at a restaurant, this is someone's neighborhood," Nick piped up.

"You sure you read Grissom's directions right, Cath?" Warrick asked from the passenger's seat.

Catherine raised an eyebrow, "Are you suggesting that I don't know how to read directions?"

"No," Warrick furrowed his brow, "it just seems weird that we're going into a residential area."

"No way!" Greg shouted, "you don't think he invited us to his HOUSE do you?!"

"Grissom? Invite everyone to his house?" Warrick asked.

"Doesn't sound like Grissom," Nick shook his head, "but that man is full of surprises."

Catherine smiled, "More than you know."

"Catherine! Do you know where we're going?" Greg asked.

"No," she said honestly, "I meant nothing by that."

"Suuuure," Greg rolled his eyes as the car came to a stop in front of a small house.

"Looks like we're here," Nick announced.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Greg said.

Everyone else laughed and stepped out of Catherine's SUV. Much to their surprise they were greeted in the driveway by one Gil Grissom. He led the team of mostly confused CSIs up to the front door where they were greeted enthusiastically by Bruno.

"Everyone, meet my dog Bruno," Grissom smiled as the boxer covered his friends in doggy kisses.

Greg's jaw dropped, "Grissom has a dog?"

"Yes he does," Grissom replied with a chuckle and a wink, "I'm not deaf you know."

Warrick knelt down to Bruno's level and gave him a good scratch behind the ears. Nick and Greg followed Catherine who led the group into the house. Bruno followed everyone with his little tail wagging 90 miles an hour, and he nearly knocked a lamp off the end table in his excitement.

"Whoa, that thing could be classified as a weapon," Nick announced as he received a bit of a tail beating (though with Bruno's short tail, it was more of his whole rear-end bouncing off Nick).

"He's just not used to strangers in the house, so he's a little excited," Grissom explained.

"Oooh, whatever is cooking smells heavenly," Warrick announced.

Greg inhaled deeply, "I agree."

They entered the kitchen and excepting Catherine, everyone was surprised to find Sara at the stove tending a pan of hash browns, "Hi guys."

"Hey Sara," Nick returned, now utterly confused.

"Hello," Warrick followed suit.

"What is going on here?!" Greg demanded.

* * *

A/N: I have a German Shepherd who regularly delivers thorough tail beatings when he's happy. I realized that boxers don't have long tails, but I have met a boxer who shook her whole rear end when she was happy. My dog also does what we call a 'helicopter tail' because he wags his tail around in big circles so fast, one day he just might take off…anyway, that has nothing to do with anything really, I just think it's funny. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. 


	18. The Big Revelation

**Chapter Eighteen: The Big Revelation**

Grissom and Sara exchanged a look and then instructed their friends to take a seat at the table. All of them did so, except of course for Catherine who already knew the big news and took over watching the food to make sure nothing burned.

Grissom cleared his throat, "Well I'm sure you've all figured out by now that this is my home."

"Ya think?" Greg asked sarcastically and was quickly quieted by a look from Grissom.

"Anyway, I invited you all here not only for breakfast, but to make a special announcement," he continued.

There was a noticeable pause during which everyone stared at their boss expectantly, "Okay, well I'll just come right off and tell you. No sense making a big, dramatic production of this. The big news is that…well, it's that I am deeply, madly in love with Sara Sidle and I asked her to marry me."

"And I said yes," Sara flashed a bright smile.

Greg choked on the glass of water he'd gotten when they entered the kitchen, "What?!"

Nick's eyes grew wide and he was at a loss for words.

Warrick was shocked for a moment, but then happy for his friends, "Congratulations!"

"Thank you," Grissom acknowledged him.

"Catherine, you _did_ know something because you didn't even flinch!" Greg accused.

"Guilty as charged," she turned from the stove, "I didn't know for sure that we were invited here for breakfast. But I did find these two out and even helped Grissom plan the proposal."

"Wait, so how long have you guys been engaged?" Nick finally found his voice.

"Just since the other night when Grissom called in 'sick'," Sara poked Grissom in the side.

"I knew you weren't sick," Warrick said, "but I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on. Now it all makes sense. I take it you're living together, that's why Sara couldn't invite us over to her apartment after some drinks anymore."

"Ohhh," the realization of it all dawned on Nick, "I get it now."

"I hated to avoid you guys all the time," Sara laughed, "but until you knew I was with Grissom, I couldn't very well bring you over here."

"You could've trusted us with this sooner," Greg sounded hurt.

"And be subjected to the horrors of the rumor mill? No thanks," Grissom sighed, "it will be bad enough having to deal with Ecklie and management as it is."

"True," Warrick nodded, "Ecklie hasn't exactly been your best friend through the years."

Sara snorted, "Now that's an understatement."

"Anyway, I thought having you all over for breakfast would be the best way to break it to you," Grissom finished.

Bruno, who had been running around the table from person to person, trying to get some attention ran to the back door, making it clear that he needed to go out. Sara checked to see that Catherine had her breakfast under control for the moment and grabbed a pair of gloves from the counter before following Bruno out into the yard.

Nick, Warrick and Greg exchanged a very confused look. Catherine, knowing exactly what was going on cracked up, laughing so hard she could barely breathe for a moment. Grissom shook his head and then turned bright red.

Greg, never afraid to say what they were all thinking asked, "What was that all about?"

"You don't want to know," Grissom sighed.

"Sara's going on a treasure hunt!" Catherine managed to say while still laughing.

Grissom shot her daggers with his eyes, "You're not helping."

"It's true!" she snickered.

"Okay, what do you know that we don't know?" Nick asked, crossing his arms.

Catherine only laughed harder and turned back to the stove to at least try and watch the food. Grissom shook his head and was about to explain when Sara came back in, leaving the dog outside. She immediately noticed the odd looks on everyone's faces as Catherine was clearly laughing by the stove.

"Um, I guess Grissom didn't explain to you why I have no engagement ring," she started.

The looks of confusion doubled at that statement.

Sara laughed, "Well, our dog Bruno somehow got a hold of the ring and swallowed it. So every time he goes to the bathroom one of us has to…_look_ for the ring."

"Oh my goodness, please go no further before breakfast!" Greg cut her off.

"Okay, I'll go into detail after we eat," she teased.

"No thanks," Warrick jumped in.

"You're not going to keep the ring when it comes out are you?" Nick asked, looking a bit horrified.

"I don't think so," Sara looked to Grissom for confirmation.

"No…no, I was going to clean it up and then return it. I figured we could tell the jeweler that it didn't fit right, which could be true. I never asked for her ring size," he explained.

"Good," Nick nodded.

"Aww, but the ring you picked out for her means something, doesn't it?" Greg asked.

"Greg! Would you wear a ring that's been inside a dog?!" Sara asked.

"If it was from my lover? Maybe," he grinned.

"I don't expect Sara to want to wear this particular ring," Grissom said, "the exact one is not important. It's just an outward symbol for our love. Besides she can't wear it all day at work anyway."

"That's true, it will probably end up on a chain around my neck," Sara nodded, "so anyway, I'm going to wash my hands and then it will be time to eat."

"What a lovely segue to food," Catherine smirked.

Despite the not so appetizing pre-meal conversation, the food was actually quite delicious. Everyone praised Sara on her excellent cooking skills and she was quick to point out that Grissom had helped. They had a nice stress-free morning together and everyone felt that it was nice to be together to celebrate a happy time and just to not have to worry about work. Before the meal was over, they all decided that they had to have more get-togethers to have fun outside their job.

"Oh Sara, that was seriously a wonderful breakfast," Warrick was leaning back in his chair.

"Who would've thought our little Sara could be so domestic," Greg teased.

"Shut up," Sara punched his arm lightly.

"Grissom is lucky, he gets to eat her cooking all the time," Nick mused.

"Yeah, but I'm going to end up gaining 50 pounds," Grissom laughed.

"Not with the way Bruno keeps us active at the park," Sara said, "he's going to want to go for a walk, but I'm not in the mood for it."

"Me either," Grissom sighed.

"Let's go chase him around the back yard for a little while, wear him out for you," Greg suggested.

"Sounds like a deal," Sara smiled and led all but Grissom out to the back yard.

"Man, Grissom is so whipped, you've got him doing the dishes," Nick smirked.

"No, he's just a gentleman," Sara replied, tossing a ball for Bruno to chase after.

* * *

A/N: I wanted to get this chapter posted up earlier today since I'm finishing up my other story 'Aftermath'. I'm done with that story, but I need to clean up the plot of the last chapter a little bit. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and there will be more to come tomorrow. 


	19. Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

**Chapter Nineteen: Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My! **

The morning after the big breakfast get together and the revelation that Grissom and Sara were engaged and living together, Grissom struck gold. He found the engagement ring and as promised he cleaned it up. Later that day, he returned the ring to the jewelry store and with Sara's help picked out a new ring. Sara chose a fairly simple ring with a gold band and two small diamonds flanking one larger one.

A couple of weeks later, Nick and Sara were on a case together at the Las Vegas Zoo. The call came in that a zookeeper had been found dead in a lion's cage and the other keepers had to put the big cat under sedation and move him out of the enclosure. Once the 500 pound cat was safely out of the exhibit and moved into a holding room, the CSIs were allowed to approach the body.

"I think big kitty might've gotten hungry," Nick noted as he examined several puncture wounds on the victim's thigh and the missing portion of the right arm.

"What was she doing in here with the lion?" Sara wondered aloud.

"Good question, make sure Sofia asks the zoo director about that," Nick said.

Sara nodded and examined the area around the body. She found lots of blood spatter and even what looked like a small portion of a tooth in the dirt. She left Nick to examine the body further and asked if there was a way for her to see the lion. The zoo veterinarian informed her that there was a viewing window into the room he was in, but he was coming out of the tranquilizer and close examination was not possible right now.

"I don't particularly care to get up close and personal with such a big cat anyway," Sara told the vet.

"Most people wouldn't," the vet smiled, "they think the monkeys and sea lions are cute, but no one wants to get too close to the big cats or the bears."

"I assume you gave the cat a quick exam while he was under sedation?" Sara asked.

"Yes," the vet nodded.

"Did you find anything obviously wrong with him?" she asked.

"Other than being covered in blood? No. I looked for some sort of wound, but I don't think it's his blood," the vet shuddered, "there was one thing. I noticed that he has chipped one of his canine teeth."

"I think I found part of a tooth," Sara nodded, "so you believe that's the victim's blood then."

The vet shook his head affirmative, "Like I said no apparent wounds on Chester's body."

"Chester is the lion?" Sara asked and received a nod, "any chance you took a sample of the blood?"

"No, afraid not," the vet sighed, "is that all you need from me Miss Sidle? I need to get back to monitoring Chester for any problems."

"Yes, thank you," Sara glanced one last time at the blood covered lion and headed back to meet Nick.

"Well, Doc Robbins loaded the body and transported her back to the morgue," Nick announced, "I collected blood samples and trace from the enclosure and printed the door to get in here. I inspected the locking mechanisms on the door and it appears everything was in working order. Either this was a horrible mix-up or perhaps someone threw our keeper in here with the big kitty."

"Why would anyone throw a woman into a cage with a lion?" Sara asked.

"Maybe she was already dead and someone was hoping the lion would eat the evidence," Nick shrugged.

"There's better ways of getting rid of a body," she shook her head.

"I guess we should go speak with Sofia and see what the zoo director had to say," Nick gathered up the bindles of evidence he'd collected.

The two CSIs exited the lion enclosure and headed down the hall to the main zoo kitchen. Sofia Curtis stood questioning a shorter balding man with glasses. They took this to be the zoo director and waited for Sofia to finish up with him before joining her.

"So what'd you two find?" Sofia asked her former colleagues.

"Lots of blood in the enclosure and what appears to be bite marks all over the body," Nick explained.

"Lots of blood and a chipped tooth on the lion," Sara put in.

Sofia nodded, "It seems our zookeeper, Miss Alicia Valdez was supposed to be inspecting the lion's cage. Last week one of the lionesses in that enclosure got sick eating something she shouldn't have. The other two lionesses and the lion were supposed to be removed earlier today so that Miss Valdez could check out the exhibit and make sure it was safe."

"So why was there still a lion in the enclosure when Alicia entered?" Nick asked.

"Good question," Sofia replied, "no one seems to be quite sure of that. It seems that whoever was in charge of moving the lions to the adjoining enclosure moved the female cats, but not the male."

"Obviously because Alicia and Chester were both in there," Sara said.

"Chester?" Sofia raised an eyebrow.

"Chester is the male lion," Sara explained, "so the big question is whether someone left Chester in there on purpose or if it was a tragic miscommunication."

"I think we should start by finding out from Doc Robbins exactly what caused our vic to die," Nick suggested.

"Good idea," Sara agreed.

"I'm heading back to PD to look into the zoo's past. I want to know if they have a good safety record or if there have been some accidents here before," Sofia explained.

"Okay, call us if you find anything interesting," Nick told the detective.

"You do the same," Sofia said and they parted ways.

At the morgue, Nick and Sara found that Doc Robbins was just finishing up his preliminary exam. The coroner explained to the CSIs that even though the victim had suffered massive injuries from the lion's attack, her ultimate COD was a heart attack.

"So basically you're saying she was scared to death?" Nick asked, incredulous.

"Yes, when the body is subjected to extreme stress, such as being attacked by a 500 pound hungry cat, the heart can often beat so hard that it will explode or any underlying heart conditions will be exposed," Doc Robbins explained.

"Well, there goes your body dump theory," Sara nudged her partner.

"What can you tell us about time of death?" Nick inquired.

"Based on liver temp I'd say this woman died at about 6PM give or take a few minutes," Robbins informed him.

"So, basically at closing time for the zoo," Sara nodded, "I guess then none of the guests saw our victim being mauled, I guess that's good."

"Can either of you tell me why our vic was in an enclosure with a large carnivore?" Robbins asked.

"We have yet to determine whether it was an accident or if someone at the zoo wanted our victim dead," Sara told him.

"Either way, this was not a good way to go," Robbins said.

After finishing their briefing with the coroner, Nick went to drop off his evidence at DNA and trace. Sara told him that she was going to see how Grissom was coming on his own case. She found that he was doing some research on his computer.

"Hey Sara, how was the zoo case?" he asked.

"Weird," she said, "a zookeeper went into a lion enclosure which was apparently supposed to be empty. Needless to say, they were both surprised and the lion attacked the keeper."

"I see," Grissom took off his glasses and studied her face, "something's bothering you."

She heaved a sigh, "I just hate zoos. It's wrong how they keep all those animals cooped up in tiny cages. No matter how much they think they simulate the animal's natural habitat, it's just torture. Would you like to spend your entire life cooped up in a small space?"

"No," Grissom shook his head, "I'm sorry, I didn't think about that when I assigned you this case."

"It's okay," she said, "There are a lot of cases I take on that I don't like."

"But I know how you feel about animals dear, I should've thought it through before I just handed the case out," he apologized.

"Grissom, really it's okay. It's just sort of depressing to see all the animals cooped up on the way in. And I have the feeling that they're going to put that lion down. Maybe it's better off for him instead of being kept in such a small place," she said.

"I can take you off the case if you want," he offered.

"No, I started it and I'll finish it," she assured him.

* * *

A/N: I have never been to Las Vegas and so I didn't know until I googled it that there was an actual Las Vegas Zoo. Anyway, trust me; this case is not based at the real place, just a generic zoo. At this point in the story, I felt there needed to be an interesting case thrown in since the focus was heavily on Grissom and Sara, but don't worry this case won't last forever.


	20. A Call For Help

**Chapter Twenty: A Call For Help**

Sara and Nick met up with Sofia after processing all of their evidence.

"It seems that the zoo has a clean safety record. Nothing like this has ever happened before," Sofia sighed.

"We talked to Doc Robbins and he said that she basically died of fright. She was so scared she had a heart attack and then the lion apparently gnawed on her some more," Nick offered their latest information.

"I guess the next step is to haul in the zookeeper who was supposed to be in charge of removing the lions from the exhibit," Sara said.

"Yeah, he was supposed to have moved all the animals this morning. Alicia Valdez didn't start her shift until 2PM. Let's see if the guy was an idiot and forgot one of the lions or maybe he had something against Alicia," Sofia agreed.

A short while later Sara, Nick and Sofia were standing in the viewing room, just watching their suspect. Observation of a suspect before interrogation was always a good idea because most people didn't realize they were being watched and therefore were not as guarded in their behavior as when the CSIs and detective were present. Sara opted to observe this one instead of participating so Nick and Sofia entered the room to start questioning.

Sofia took a seat directly across from their suspect and eyed him carefully, "So, Mr. Frankton is it?"

"Yes, George Frankton," the man nodded.

"You work at the Las Vegas Zoo?" Nick asked.

"Duh," the man pointed to the logo on his shirt.

"Please sir, we just have to ask all these questions for the record," Sofia warned, "don't take an attitude with us."

"Hey, I'm here because you guys dragged me out of work so forgive me if I'm a little annoyed right now," Frankton replied.

"I'm sorry Mr. Frankton, but you are aware that Alicia Valdez died in the lion exhibit yesterday evening, aren't you?" Nick said.

"Yes," he lowered his head, "horrible tragedy."

"That's why you're here. We want to know if this was nothing more than a horrible tragedy or if there was foul play," Nick informed him.

"Foul play? What? You think I killed Alicia?" Frankton asked incredulously.

"No one is accusing anyone of anything yet," Sofia put in, "we're just sitting here and talking."

"Yeah right, since when does a guy get hauled into a police station to 'just sit and talk'," Frankton muttered.

"Well Mr. Frankton, you were the one in charge of moving the lions from the enclosure to another empty one," Nick said, "so naturally we're going to come to you when we find out that a zookeeper was mauled by a lion in what was supposed to be an empty cage."

"Hey, I moved the lionesses first because Chester's easier to handle when the females are not around. They were easy to move and it went smoothly. Then I went back for Chester and he gave me a little trouble. I couldn't coax him out into the transfer area," Frankton started.

"So you just left him in the enclosure and didn't bother to tell anyone?" Sofia asked.

"No! It wasn't like that at all. I had a little bit of trouble getting him out, but then I used a hunk of meat to entice him and he finally went into the next enclosure like he was supposed to," Frankton told them.

"Wait a minute, you're telling us that you moved the lion out of the enclosure and then later he somehow ended up back in there where he started?" Nick asked, confused.

"I guess so if he was in there when Alicia went in. When I left, Chester was in the temporary enclosure with Kia and Candy. He obviously ended up back in the other enclosure somehow, but you're asking the wrong guy," Frankton shook his head, "I definitely didn't do it."

"So you had nothing against Alicia Valdez then?" Sofia asked.

"Nope," Frankton said.

"Then you won't mind us asking your co-workers if you two got along?" Sofia inquired.

Frankton raised one eyebrow, "No I suppose that wouldn't bother me."

Sara watched the questioning from the viewing room and noted the momentary look of panic when they asked if he would mind them asking his co-workers about getting along with Alicia. She had the feeling that if they asked around, there would be something that had happened between the pair. Whether it was job related or if there was something romantic, she had an idea there would be something there. Just as the interrogation was wrapping up, her cell phone went off with a number she didn't recognize.

"Sidle," she answered.

"Hello Miss Sidle," a voice said, "I hope I'm not bothering you at work."

"I am at work, but may I ask who this is?" she asked.

"Oh geez, I'm sorry. This is Dr. Leonard, the one who worked on Bailey Daniels," he explained.

"Oh hi Dr. Leonard," recognition dawned on her, "what are you calling me for?"

"It's actually about Bailey," the doctor sighed, "she's not been doing very well. We set her up with a nice foster family, but she's not happy there."

Sara sighed, "I was afraid of that."

"Now, here's where you come in. Bailey fell out her wheelchair and they brought her in for x-rays just to make sure she didn't damage the healing bones. The family was about to take her home when she started screaming for you," the doctor explained.

"Me? But why?" Sara was confused.

"Because you visited her in the hospital and she really took a liking to you, Sara," Dr. Leonard said, "you're a woman about the same age as her mother and you were nice to her. Anyway, I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor. I was hoping you could come down here and talk to Bailey. She won't listen to any of us and she just keeps screaming and crying. Maybe you could explain to her that she has to go with this nice family for a little while until she gets a new permanent family."

"Are you sure my coming down there and then having to leave her won't upset her more?" Sara asked.

"It's a possibility, but right now it's our only shot," the doctor sighed, "please Miss Sidle, we're at our rope's end here."

"Okay, I'll just let my supervisor know that I'm going to leave for a little while," she said, "I should be there within the hour."

"Thank you, we really appreciate this," Dr. Leonard told her.

Sara looked in and saw that the questioning was still ongoing, though it was winding up. She debated for a moment and decided not to interrupt them. She instead headed back to the lab to inform Grissom of the phone call she had received.

"Grissom? You remember the Daniels girl from that accident about a month ago, right?" Sara asked.

"Yes, she's the one who lost her whole family," Grissom nodded.

"I just got a call from the doctor who worked with her while she was in the hospital. He said she's not doing well with her foster family and that she was actually at the hospital asking for me," Sara explained.

Grissom furrowed his brow, "Why would she ask for you?"

"I guess I really made a connection with her when I went to the hospital and visited her," she sighed, "and I really felt bad for her as you know. So I'm going to go over and see if I can help calm her down."

"Okay, I take it Nick has things under control with your case then?" he asked.

She nodded, "He was in the middle of an interrogation so I didn't want to interrupt, but things are under control and while I'm gone he can work with Sofia. There was going to be some additional interviewing of co-workers necessary."

"All right, I love you and I'll probably just see you later at home then," Grissom kissed her forehead.

"I love you too…and thanks," Sara said and left.

* * *

A/N: There you go. And see, I didn't forget about Bailey at all. You'll be seeing…or rather reading about her some more in the next chapter. Thanks as always to everyone who is reading and especially to those of you who regularly review the story, you guys rock! 


	21. I Wish I Could Do Something

A/N: Updates for the next few chapters might be slower in coming…not because I don't have them (they're all done), but I'm going to be pretty busy between work and all the other things I have on my plate. I may not have time to turn a computer on and upload the documents (which I know really doesn't take that long, but you know how it is with real life sometimes).

* * *

**Chapter Twenty One: I Wish I Could Do Something**

Sara drove to the hospital and wondered how the hell she was going to help out. Assuming Bailey did calm down when Sara arrived, wouldn't she then get even more upset when Sara inevitably had to leave? Perhaps not, but she did know that she had a soft spot in her heart already for Bailey Daniels and if she could help her out she would.

"Sara!" Bailey exclaimed happily upon spotting the brunette.

"Hi Bailey. How are you?" Sara asked.

"I fell down, but it didn't hurt," she explained.

"I heard about that. How is your new family?" Sara asked.

"I don't like them. I miss mommy and daddy and Johnny," Bailey pouted.

Sara felt a pang for the child's loss, "I know you do sweetie. But you know that they can't come back."

"I know," she sighed, "but I still miss mommy and daddy."

"You probably always will, but over time it won't hurt you so much. You'll get a new family and you'll be happy with them," Sara offered.

"I don't want a new family," she crossed her arms, "I want you. Why can't I go home with you?"

Sara was struck wordless at this simple request, but was rescued by Dr. Leonard, "Bailey, I'm sure Sara has her own house and her own husband and children, she can't just take you home with her."

"But why?" she whined.

"I'm sorry honey, but adults have their own lives to worry about and even though they want to, they can't always take home another kid just like that," he tried to explain.

Bailey began to cry, "No one loves me!"

"That's not true," Sara said and hugged the sobbing child.

After a while, Bailey calmed down and seemed resigned to going back with the foster family to which she was assigned. She was clearly unhappy, but even at her young age she was wise enough to know not to fight a losing battle. Sara finally had to leave Bailey, but not before telling her a story. She bumped into Dr. Leonard in the hallway.

"I'm sorry Miss Sidle, I knew there was a 50/50 chance of you making her more upset, but I just thought…well I'm not sure what I thought," he shrugged, "I just feel so bad for that girl."

"It's heartbreaking," Sara agreed softly, "I wish there was something I could do for her."

"Given time she will adjust to a new life with a new family, this is a rough transition period," the doctor said.

"You know, it's funny. There's really no reason why I couldn't adopt her myself. I'm about to be married and I don't have any kids. Well, actually my fiancé isn't sure he wants kids," Sara sighed.

"If you were to seriously consider it, you could apply to adopt Bailey. So far no one has expressed any interest in her. Despite her young age, her traumatic background seems to scare off a lot of people," Dr. Leonard said, "it's tragic really."

"Hmm," Sara mused, "It's not a thought I had really entertained before. I'd have to really think about it, but I could mention it to Grissom – that's my boyfriend. I've become surprisingly attached to Bailey."

"She's adorable when she's happy," Dr. Leonard smiled, "anyway; you have my number if you seriously want to consider adoption. I can put you into contact with the right people."

"Okay, thanks again, Dr. Leonard," Sara shook his hand.

"Oh and congratulations," he said, "besides your previous mention of your engagement, I see you're wearing an engagement ring that wasn't there before."

"Thanks," Sara smiled, "it's a recent addition."

Sara walked slowly across the parking lot, so deeply in thought that she almost walked right past her own vehicle. She shook off her thoughts and turned on the radio to help keep herself focused on driving home. She knew that Grissom was likely still at the lab, but since they had begun dating, he was nowhere near the workaholic he had once been. He would be home within the hour unless they'd gotten slammed with a big work load. In which case he probably would have called her back in, so she figured he'd be home soon.

At home, Sara walked in to find Bruno asleep on the kitchen floor. She checked the trashcan just to make sure he hadn't knocked it over and eaten a bunch of stuff again. It seemed for the time being that he had learned his lesson. When she walked past him, he lifted up his head and wagged his tail tiredly.

"Hey baby," she scratched behind his ears.

She grabbed a granola bar out of the cupboard and made her way to the couch. She turned on the TV and was quickly sucked into a documentary about how popular sweets were made. First they had a tour of a jelly bean factory, then a Ben and Jerry's factory followed by tours of the Peeps factory and the Twinkies factory. She quickly found herself craving some substantial sweets instead of just a measly granola bar. During a commercial break she put the bar back and searched for some ice cream. Near the back of the freezer she discovered a forgotten carton of cookie dough ice cream and pulled it out.

When Grissom walked in, he found Sara curled up on the couch with a bowl of ice cream and watching TV. He smiled as the dog greeted him and then he moved behind Sara and kissed her neck tenderly.

"Hello darling, we're eating ice cream for breakfast now?" he asked softly.

"I'm an adult," she replied, "I can eat whatever I want for breakfast."

"I don't doubt it," he laughed, "you just usually get on me for not eating healthier."

"I was watching a sweet tooth special on National Geographic and it made me crave ice cream," she explained.

"Ah, that explains it. I'll have to cancel that channel," he joked.

"Knock yourself out, it's not like we watch that much TV," she shrugged.

"Oh you know I was kidding," he gave in, "I enjoy watching it too."

"So how was the end of shift? Anything eventful?" she asked.

"No, I told Nick that you had to leave a little early and he just said to let you know that you're going back to the zoo tomorrow for some more questioning," he said.

"Which is exactly what I expected," she nodded.

"How was your visit with the little girl?" he asked.

Her face clouded, "I felt so bad for her, Gil. She's really missing her family."

He sighed, "That's to be expected."

"She actually asked me why I couldn't take her home with me. I didn't even know how to answer," Sara shook her head sadly.

Grissom wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace, "Sometimes I think you care too much, but I'll be damned if I don't love you for it too."

"She's really the sweetest little girl. I've honestly been considering the idea of adoption. Not seriously of course, and never without your permission. But Dr. Leonard told me that no one is interested in adopting her due to her emotional trauma," she said.

"That's sad," he furrowed his brows, "I would think that a lot of people would be jumping at the chance to adopt such a young girl. And she sounds like a good, smart kid from what you've told me."

"She is, but she's troubled too. She's not happy with a foster family and I really don't want to see her tossed from home to home because she starts acting out. I was traumatized and older when I went into the system. I _hated_ it with every fiber of my being," she spat.

Grissom was quiet for a moment, "Would you really want to adopt her? I mean thinking about all it could mean. What would we do with her at night when we're working? When she's old enough for school, one of us would have to switch to days. Would you be willing to make a lot of sacrifices?"

"I don't know. Like I said, I haven't seriously considered it yet, but I think I could give up a lot of things. It would be just like having a baby, except I don't have to be pregnant and she'd already be three years old. We'd have to work out a babysitter or something for nights, but I think we could do it," she said.

"If this is something you really, really want, I would be willing to make sacrifices for you," he offered.

"Really?" she asked.

"Absolutely. Of course, I'd want to meet the child before we sign any papers," he teased.

"Gil, adoption is a long process and they don't just dump a kid on you because you want one. They have to investigate you and your lifestyle to make sure that you would be able to properly raise a child. I think you have to do a little more than see the kid before you sign anything," she returned, "if we seriously do this, it won't be easy."

Grissom shrugged, "Like I said, if this is something you really want I will do it."

Sara smiled, "I knew there was a reason I loved you."

* * *

A/N 2.0: The documentary Sara was watching was a show I watched on the National Geographic channel the other day. Damned if I didn't want Twinkies, Jelly Bellies, Peeps and Ben and Jerry's while watching it lol. 


	22. The Lion Did It

**Chapter Twenty Two: The Lion Did It**

At the zoo the next day, Sara, Nick and Sofia were allowed to use the zoo director's office to question some of the other carnivore zookeepers and staff. When asked about George Frankton's behavior and whether or not he had a grudge with Alicia Valdez, it seemed there was really not going to be a link at first. Then they were questioning an intern who was working on an internship program from UNLV.

"Alicia didn't really like to tell anyone, but she had a huge problem with George. He was kind of creepy, and he asked her to go out on a date. She told him that she wasn't interested in romance with a co-worker and he didn't like that at all," Virginia Sawyer told the investigators.

"How exactly did he react? Was he threatening Alicia or anything?" Sofia questioned.

"Not exactly. He asked to be switched to another department, but his request hadn't gone through yet. The director was trying to find another position for George, but it was slow going. So Alicia avoided George as much as possible, but he started to harass her when he thought no one else was around," Virginia explained.

"What sort of things did he do to harass her, Miss Sawyer?" Nick asked.

"Well, the other day I was in the tiger enclosure with Alicia rearranging things. They just built a new bigger exhibit for the tigers because they want them to mate. So Alicia went out to grab some cleaning supplies to wash the inside of the glass and stuff. When she came back, I could hear her arguing with someone. George was following her and calling her all kinds of awful names. She was telling him to leave her alone and get over it. The next day he was supposed to have moved the lions out of their enclosure so we could check it out and then Alicia was killed," Virginia was on the verge of tears, "She didn't do anything wrong. She didn't deserve to die."

"I'm sorry for the loss," Sara offered.

"I guess she didn't do a proper safety check, but that cage was supposed to be empty!" Virginia exclaimed.

"Does the zoo have a standard procedure to follow before entering an enclosure?" Sofia asked.

"Yes, you have to make sure that the safety gates are all closed and you have to check from the viewing areas to make sure that the animal is clear of the cage. Only when you are sure the cage is empty or if it's a harmless animal like the penguins, when you're sure that they can't get out, you go in," Virginia told them.

"Hmm," Sofia jotted down a couple notes, "so you believe Alicia Valdez may not have followed proper safety precautions then?"

"Obviously not if she went in there while a lion was still in the cage. But like I said, she thought the cage was empty. My God, what if I was the first one to go in? I might not be here today. But because my professor ran class long, I wasn't here on time," Virginia sighed.

"Okay, thank you for your time, you've been a great help to our investigation Miss Sawyer," Nick said.

"You're welcome. If that bastard killed Alicia, I want you to give him what he deserves," Virginia rose and left the room.

"Well, just when we thought this whole thing was looking like a bust, we finally get a potential motive," Sara said, "after we finish up with these people, I guess we need to talk to Frankton again."

"Let's finish up and see if any other co-workers noted any tension between George and Alicia," Sofia suggested.

So they interviewed the remaining zoo employees who had the most contact working with Alicia and George. A couple of them when questioned specifically did note a tension between the pair. None of them had thought much of it as sometimes people just didn't get along. It was beginning to look like George Frankton might be their man after all. They had Frankton hauled back into the police station where they could question him further.

"Well Mr. Frankton, it's lovely to see you again," Sofia started.

"I'm just thrilled to be here," he rolled his eyes.

"This is Sara Sidle, who is also working the case," Nick introduced.

"The more the merrier," Frankton shrugged.

"So Mr. Frankton, do you know an intern at the zoo named Virginia Sawyer?" Sara got straight to the point.

"Hmm…oh the girl from UNLV? Yeah I've seen her around, she was always hanging out with Alicia," he responded.

"Then would it surprise you to know that Miss Sawyer heard a heated exchange between you and Alicia Valdez?" Sofia questioned.

"What? If she said anything about us fighting, she's full of it," Frankton shook his head, "you can't believe everything you hear you know."

"Miss Sawyer seems to recall an encounter between you and Alicia outside the tiger enclosure the day before Alicia was killed," Nick offered, "care to explain that?"

"Ohh that," Frankton rolled his eyes, "I'm stupid sometimes you know. I'm getting help for it. I have an anger issue, but I would never kill anyone. I asked Alicia out and she said no and that was not acceptable to me. So I was following her and cussed her out, but it kinda freaked me out when she got really upset. I realized I really have a problem that requires attention."

"You openly admit that you have an anger issue, which by the way, makes you like a prime suspect, but then you deny murdering Alicia Valdez?" Sofia shook her head, "I'm not buying it Mr. Frankton."

"I'm serious! I moved Chester to the temporary enclosure, if someone put him back in the exhibit, you're looking at the wrong guy," Frankton sighed, "how can I make you believe me?"

"You're not exactly making us buy it that you wouldn't murder Alicia. Convince us that you would never kill her," Sara crossed her arms.

"I don't know how to do that," Frankton was exasperated, "maybe no one did it."

"You're trying to tell us the lion did it? He let himself out of the temporary cage and then let himself back into the main exhibit?" Nick held back a laugh.

"Okay that's ridiculous, but from my point of view, it's just about as likely as me murdering Alicia. I was abused as a child and as a result, I'm a very angry adult, but I've never been violent. I don't believe violence is the answer. Maybe I've been verbally abusive of people who didn't deserve it, but since I was beaten, I vowed to never hit another person in anger," Frankton finally admitted.

"You didn't tell us that before," Sofia said, "I don't know if I believe that either, but at least we're getting somewhere."

"If you don't believe it, look into my medical records. I have a history of injuries from child abuse," Frankton sighed.

"We can't look into your medical records, but if there were any police reports filed, that might go a long way towards convincing us you're not lying," Sara told him.

"Oh yeah, there's police reports, filed right here in Clark County, go look and you'll find them," he nodded.

"All right, you sit tight and we'll go see what pops up," Sofia led the two criminalists out of the interrogation room.

They followed Sofia to her office where she did a computer search on George Frankton. Sure enough, in the Clark County records, several entries popped up with Frankton's name.

"I got several results, let me pull one up," Sofia motioned for the CSIs to take a seat, "oh boy. It would seem that our Mr. Frankton is not necessarily lying. This is a report of domestic abuse and our boy was taken to the hospital with a fractured arm and bruising all over the body."

"Damn, maybe he is telling the truth," Nick heaved a sigh.

"In which case, we're back to square one. Who the hell would move a lion back into the enclosure?" Sara asked.

Sofia shook her head, "I don't know and if you guys don't have any more evidence, we might have to go back and start from the beginning."

"I guess we'd need to find out who else had access and authorization to move the lions," Nick said.

"I guess we'll be letting Mr. Frankton go for now," Sofia stood to go and inform their suspect that he was free to go.

Sara had one last question for Frankton before he was released on a hunch, "Mr. Frankton, before you go, can I ask you something?"

"Sure," he sighed.

"Who _do_ you think did it?" Sara asked.

He thought for a moment and then spoke cautiously, "You didn't hear it from me, but I'd actually look into that intern. She was asking all sorts of questions about how exactly we move the lions and all kinds of safety stuff. I didn't think much of it because she wants to be a zookeeper, but you might look into her now that I think of it."

"Thank you, Mr. Frankton," Sara watched him exit the police station.

* * *

A/N: Okay so this one's not all that slow in coming. But I am up late (because the Colorado Rockies just completed their sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks to make it to the World Series…woot!) so I figured it wouldn't hurt to get this chapter posted. Thanks as usual for reading and reviewing.


	23. Who Do You Believe?

**Chapter Twenty Three: Who Do You Believe?**

After George Frankton left, the CSIs called Virginia Sawyer into PD to ask her some questions. None of the investigators were sure whether they should buy into Frankton's story or not, but they knew it wouldn't hurt to question the intern further. Frankton certainly had an established motive and had been seen to argue with the victim, but the major argument was witnessed by only the intern who was now being implicated. Certainly the circumstances were more than enough to warrant a little bit of suspicion on their part.

"I thought you guys asked all the questions you needed to at the zoo. It was not cool having the police drag me out of my dorm," Virginia started.

"I'm sorry Miss Sawyer, but after our last interrogation of Mr. Frankton, he suggested that we look into your potential involvement in Alicia's murder," Nick explained.

"Me?!" the intern was incredulous; "do I look like I'm capable of murder?"

"You'd be surprised what a real murderer can look like," Sara said.

"Besides, the method of murder in this case was very hands-off and impersonal. All that had to be done was someone moving the lion from the temporary enclosure back to the permanent one," Sofia said, "I spoke to the zoo director and it seems that you were not in fact late to work on the day of Alicia's death as you told us previously. Why did you lie?"

"What? That's ridiculous. Why would I lie? It makes no sense," she sputtered.

"We have it on record that you were on time to the zoo that day, there's no sense denying it!" Sofia snapped.

Virginia seemed to crumble at that, "Fine, I was there. I lied because…because I felt so guilty. I was the one who was supposed to do the safety check. Alicia trusted me because there was no real danger. Chester had been moved to the temporary enclosure hours before."

"If that's the case, then why did you fail to see that the lion was in the enclosure?" Sara asked.

"I didn't actually look. I know, that sounds bad for me! But my boyfriend texted me right after Alicia asked me to do the safety checks and I _knew_ Chester had been moved, so I snuck off to a corner and went to read my text messages," Virginia sighed.

"You know, now that we have established that you lied to us before, how do we know that you're telling us the truth now? You started yourself down a very slippery slope Miss Sawyer," Nick shook his head.

"Back off! All of you. This is just wrong, I've done nothing but cooperate with you guys and now you're trying to pin a murder on me. No wonder everyone says the justice system is screwed up," the intern rose as though she intended to leave.

Sofia cleared her throat, "Legally we don't have enough to hold you here, Miss Sawyer, but you have to realize how bad it would look on your part for you to storm out of this interrogation."

Virginia paused, "It would make me look guilty. So? I know I didn't do anything wrong. For God's sake, you're taking the word of that lying, creepy son of a bitch over mine? Who do you believe here? The straight-A college intern who's not even getting paid to work at the zoo or the college dropout who lucked his ass into a job?"

"Normally I would be inclined to believe you, Miss Sawyer, but you're not doing a whole lot to convince us that you are innocent. I can understand your indignation at being accused of a serious crime, but we're just asking questions. We have no proof and that's why we have to let you walk out that door," Nick explained.

"Answer me one more question before you go," Sara jumped in, "is it true that you just recently asked a lot of detailed questions on how to transport the lions safely from one enclosure to another?"

Virginia tensed at this question, "Miss Sidle, if you're trying to insinuate that I had an ulterior motive, you're wrong. Dead wrong. I want to be a zookeeper. They were planning to move the lions and I was just curious on the procedure that would be a part of my job as a keeper."

"Or," Sofia took her opportunity, "is it possible that _you _moved the lion while everyone else was preoccupied? That you knew other people knew about George Frankton's anger issues and that he had a bit of a grudge against Alicia Valdez. You saw your opportunity and you capitalized on it. You could get George thrown in jail for murder and conveniently a spot would open up on the staff for a new zookeeper. Seems awfully suspect to me."

"How? How could you know that?" Virginia was stricken, "I was so careful not to leave evidence."

"We're trained to see things that no one else sees Miss Sawyer," Nick said.

"It's a detective's job to figure stuff like that out," Sofia put in, "besides I knew there was a pretty good chance that I was dead wrong. You basically just incriminated yourself."

"You tricked me!" the intern was furious.

"Make it easier on yourself now and give us a full confession," Sara said, "because if you lie your way into a trial, you'll be in a whole hell of a lot more trouble."

"Okay, okay. I give up!" Virginia slumped back into her chair, "you people are too damned smart. Things just fell into place. I didn't really plan it too far ahead. Alicia asked me after we finished up the tiger exhibit if I'd be interested in helping with the lion enclosure the next day. I saw my opportunity. She told me George would be moving the cats and I knew that I could take him down. I asked Alicia how they moved such big dangerous animals and she just took at as natural curiosity. I didn't want to kill her. I didn't think the lion would kill her."

"The lion didn't directly kill her," Sara told her, "Alicia Valdez died of a heart attack. She was scared to death. The lion might not have even killed her. The most severe bite injuries had very little bleeding, indicating that they occurred post-mortem."

"Damn," Virginia breathed, "I just thought since I was basically being trained to do Alicia's job, they might ask me to help fill in while she was gone. I was dumb not to realize a wild caged animal would attack. I was hoping to kill two birds with one stone…so to speak. I could frame George because everyone knew he was the one moving the cats. Alicia would be injured, but would never suspect me. I guess it's a good thing she died though. She would have been furious with me when she realized I didn't do a good safety inspection."

"That's the problem with being a lying murderer," Nick mused, "no matter how well you think you've planned, you always incriminate yourself. We don't let these matters settle until we know what really happened."

"I must hand it to you though," Sofia said, "George Frankton really had us going. He had a temper and he was a liar. We were convinced he was the murderer until he told us about his childhood. Then he suggested we speak to you and your attitude leads us to the theory that you did it. Until that point, you really had us convinced that Frankton was the murderer. I guess you'll have lots of time now to think about where you went wrong."

The officer in the room came forward to place Virginia under arrest at Sofia's request. The three investigators filed out of the interrogation room behind her and watched as she was escorted away. Just before she was out of sight, she spun around.

"You're all wrong here. George may not be a murderer, but he does not deserve to be a free man! He's really a terrible person!" she shouted.

"And being a murderer makes her a great person?" Sofia asked sarcastically.

"Boy, you guys really know how to rile 'em up," Captain Brass joined the CSIs and detective.

"That young lady actually turned out to be a murderer. Let her boss go into a cage at the zoo, knowing that a full-sized adult male lion was inside," Nick explained.

"Ah, yikes. That couldn't have been a pretty sight," Brass shook his head.

"No, but the worst part is that there are two victims to this crime. I talked to the zoo director earlier and was told that they had to put the lion down too. Once an animal turns on a keeper, they're too much of a safety risk," Sara sighed, "and the lion did nothing wrong in this case."

"That's a shame," Nick sighed, knowing how Sara felt about zoos and animals in general.

"I guess it just comes along with the whole keeping wild animals in captivity thing," she shook her head sadly, "they couldn't very well keep a dangerous animal around. He turned on his keeper, though it was not his fault he was used as a pawn in a murder. It's such a shame."

"Not that I'm advocating for zoos here, but a lot of people would say that keeping animals captive might be the only way our grandchildren will ever see some of these species alive," Brass put in.

"And whose fault is it that these animals are losing their habitat in the wild?" Sara asked.

"Right, like I said, I'm not advocating for zoos," Brass put up his hands.

* * *

A/N: So…now that the zoo case is neatly wrapped up, what does that leave for the plot? Hmm…I don't know maybe some GSR and some more of Bailey…I guess you'll have to read and find out. ;) 


	24. Set In Motion

**Chapter Twenty Four: Set In Motion **

About a week after their discussion over whether they could really adopt Bailey or not, Sara had contacted Dr. Leonard so that they could set things in motion. The first step was setting up a supervised meeting so that Grissom, Sara and Bailey could meet one another under the observation of a social worker. Grissom wasn't quite sure what to expect and Sara was nervous that Bailey wouldn't care for Grissom.

"All right Miss Sidle, Mr. Grissom, you will be left alone in this room with Bailey, but you will be observed from the other side of that mirror," the social worker explained.

"Okay, thank you," Sara nodded.

A moment later the door opened and Bailey Daniels was carried into the room. She hated her wheelchair, so the social workers had opted to carry the child and place her in a comfortable chair. They hadn't fully explained to her what this meeting was about because they didn't want to get her hopes up in case it was decided that they didn't want to adopt her.

"Hi Bailey," Sara smiled.

"Hi Sara," the child replied shyly.

"My name is Gil," Grissom introduced himself.

"Gil is my boyfriend," Sara explained, "he's very nice, I'm sure you'll like him."

"Okay," Bailey nodded.

"So how are you feeling honey?" Sara asked.

"Itchy," the girl stuck out her tongue and pointed to her casts, "I hate these things."

"They itch because," Grissom began.

"Gil, please she's three. Spare us a gory scientific explanation," Sara warned him.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"I just know you," Sara grinned, "anyway Dr. Leonard says the cast might be coming off your arm within the next couple days."

"No more itching?" Bailey asked hopefully.

"No more itching," Sara nodded.

"Yay!" Bailey smiled.

"So," Grissom fumbled for what sort of conversation was proper for a three year old, "do you have any pets?"

"The lady has a cat, but I don't like kitties," Bailey said, "I like puppies."

Grissom smiled, "You know, I have my own dog. His name is Bruno."

"I want to see Bruno," Bailey demanded.

"Maybe another time, we didn't bring him with us," Sara laughed.

"Oh," her face fell, "can you tell me a story again? I like your stories."

"Sure," Sara glanced sideways at Grissom, "maybe he could help me tell a story."

"Oh I don't know any kid's stories," Grissom furrowed his brow, "I'd much rather listen."

"Fine," Sara shrugged and told Bailey a story.

When their time was up, Bailey was once again upset to be separated from Sara. It was clear to the social worker that this would make a good match. Of course they would have to investigate the lifestyle of the CSIs and see what sort of home environment they could provide for a child. The normal adoption process would have to take place, but based on the initial meeting, there were no major problems.

After their meeting with Bailey, the couple was going to go pay Catherine a visit. They wanted to discuss some ideas for their upcoming wedding with someone who knew what the hell they were doing. The pair never realized just how much planning went into even the simplest of ceremonies.

"Hello Grissom, Sara, how did your meeting go?" Catherine asked.

"You told her?" Grissom raised an eyebrow.

"You told her we were getting engaged," Sara reminded him.

"Fair enough," he laughed.

"You're already arguing like a married couple," Catherine teased, "now you just have to get the legal part out of the way and you're all set."

"I think a ceremony for our friends would be nice," Grissom said.

"Yeah, I'd kill you if you got married and didn't let any of us come," Catherine smiled and closed the door behind them.

"Which is exactly what I told him when he suggested we just have a justice of the peace do the ceremony," Sara smirked.

"Hopefully you'll only get married once. Although these days that is getting rarer and rarer with the divorce rate," Catherine sighed, "but anyway the ceremony has to be special and memorable."

Sara looked at Grissom, "I'm telling you now, this had better be your one and only wedding!"

Grissom pulled her in for a kiss, "I would never marry any other woman because you, Sara Sidle, are _the_ love of my life."

"Awww," Catherine laughed, "so sappy. It must be true love."

"Anyway," Sara cleared her throat, "I thought we came here to make wedding plans."

"I can't believe we set an actual date," Grissom shook his head.

"Why Gil Grissom, is that worry I see on your face?" Catherine put her hands on her hips.

"More like disbelief. But not in a bad way. I just honestly can't believe that we have a set date. There's so much to do between now and then. I don't even know what I'm going to do with my hair," he joked.

Sara nearly choked at that statement, "You're worried about _your_ hair?!"

"I have to look good don't I?" he laughed.

"I think the focus is supposed to be on the bride," Catherine snickered, "but if I had hair like that I'd be worried too."

"Ouch," Grissom said, "I should've seen that one coming."

"You left it wide open," Catherine teased, "so has either one of you even looked into what you're going to wear for the ceremony?"

"No," they replied in unison.

"Well there you go. That's your first step. You are not having a nude wedding," Catherine said, "Gil you will be easy, but Sara you have to find a dress and then pick out your bridesmaid dresses."

"You know I want you and Lindsey to be the bridesmaids, right?" Sara asked.

"I didn't know that, but thank you Sara. I would be honored to be your bridesmaid and I know Lindsey will love it," she hugged the brunette.

"Crap," Grissom said suddenly.

Sara pretended to be offended, "My choices for bridesmaids are not crap!"

"No, no nothing like that," he rolled his eyes, "I was just thinking, if you have two bridesmaids, I have to have two groomsmen. How do I chose between Greg, Nick, Warrick and Brass?"

"Oh. Tough choices," Catherine shrugged.

"Better you making the choice than me," Sara grinned, "seriously, you'll have to put some thought into it and whoever you don't chose will understand."

"You should have more female friends," Grissom sighed.

* * *

A/N: There you go. I had a looooong weekend between work and the weather. It was 80 degrees on Saturday, Sunday morning we had four inches of snow and today there's only snow left in shady spots lol. That's Colorado weather for ya. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter and hopefully it won't be days and days before I upload the next one…in fact if I was smart, I would pre-upload the chapters. 


	25. Jitters

**Chapter Twenty Five: Jitters **

The days between the setting of a date and the actual ceremony flew past. They made progress towards their adoption of Bailey and things were looking good in that respect. Grissom had a hell of a time trying to decide on who to ask to be his best man and second groomsman. He knew that no matter who he chose, someone would be let down and he felt bad for it. Sara suggested that one of the men he didn't choose could walk her down the aisle and Grissom loved the idea.

On the day of the wedding, all the CSIs were split up. The men went over to Grissom's house to prepare for the ceremony while all the ladies gathered at Catherine's for preparations.

"Where the hell are my shoes?" Sara called out in frustration. So far it felt every little thing she started to do was getting screwed up. She hoped it wasn't a bad omen for their ceremony.

"Calm down, I have them," Catherine held them out.

"Okay, sorry I just don't want to mess anything up," Sara sighed.

"Seriously, just sit down for a minute. Take a deep breath and calm yourself," Catherine instructed, "given your proposal, I think an imperfect wedding would only be fitting, but I'm sure it will be fine."

Sara nodded and took the nearest seat. Lindsey came into the room, her hair up in curlers and took a seat next to her.

"Thank you again for including me in your wedding Sara," she said.

"You're welcome. I don't exactly have a lot of close female friends so I figured you would like to be a part of it," Sara explained.

"Are you nervous yet?" Lindsey asked.

Sara laughed, "I think I would qualify as nervous. So far I have lost my toothbrush, my earrings and my shoes."

Lindsey laughed, "It's okay. Everyone gets nervous, but you will look beautiful."

"Thank you," Sara hugged the teen.

A knock came at the door and Catherine answered it to find Bailey Daniels and a social worker, "Hello, is Miss Sidle here?"

"Sara, it's your flower girl," Catherine announced.

Sara got up and came to greet the social worker, "Hello Lindy."

"Hi Sara. Bailey is yours for the day. Congratulations, I hope your wedding is perfect," the woman shook her hand.

"Thank you, for the well wishes and for letting us include Bailey," Sara smiled.

"It's clear to us that you two are going to be great for Bailey and I think she will love a day away. A wedding is an important thing anyway so she should be a part of it," the worker smiled and left.

Bailey had met Catherine, Lindsey and all the other people involved in the wedding at the previous night's practice dinner. All the new strangers had made the three-year old shy but now with fewer people around, she was more talkative.

"Hi Bailey," Lindsey scooped up the child who now wore only a walking cast on her leg.

"Hi," Bailey said, "I get to throw flowers today?"

"Yes," Sara replied, "today is the day you get to walk down the aisle just like we practiced. Only today you get to throw real rose petals."

"Good," Bailey nodded, "I get to wear my pretty dress."

"Come to the bathroom with me and I'll get your hair done nice and pretty," Lindsey said.

"Do I get to look like a princess?" Bailey asked, excitedly.

"Yeah, I guess you do," Lindsey smiled.

"Cool!" the three year old proclaimed.

Once the two younger girls were out of hearing range, Catherine spoke, "She's really a sweet kid. You are lucky to be able to adopt her."

Sara smiled, "I'm more nervous to become a mother than a wife. There's so much responsibility to raising a child, but I couldn't help falling in love with her."

"She is adorable," Catherine agreed, "reminds me of when Lindsey was that age. Even with those rough pre-teen years, I wouldn't change it. I think you and Grissom will be good parents. And you get to skip all that pregnancy weight gain."

"I almost wish I could have gone through at least one pregnancy, but maybe I still can some day. Although I am getting older and with that pregnancy gets riskier, so we'll have to see I guess," Sara sighed.

"Adoption is a noble choice anyway. Especially with Bailey's tragic background. You already know what she's been through and you will give her a great home," Catherine assured her, "and if you never have your own child, that's okay too because you're doing a good thing in deciding to raise Bailey."

Sara nodded her agreement, "So I suppose it's about time for you get these curlers out of my hair and then it's damn near time to head over to the church."

Catherine looked at the clock, "You're right. Let's go to the master bathroom since the girls are in the other one."

At Grissom's house there was a bit more of a crowd since Nick, Warrick, Greg and Brass were all there. The scene was a contrast to the girls' though. The five men sat out on the back porch watching Bruno run around the yard, chasing the birds that flew past. Each one had a beer in hand and they were fairly quiet.

"Nervous at all, man?" Nick asked.

"A little. I think it will really hit me when I see Sara," Grissom said.

"Well, I think we better start getting ready. The girls will kill us if we're late," Brass said, "and as best man, it's my job to keep you alive, Gil."

"Thanks, my death would ruin the whole wedding," Grissom joked.

"I'd step up and marry Sara," Greg said.

"Over my dead body!" Grissom exclaimed.

"Uh, that's the idea," Greg laughed.

"I still feel bad for leaving you out of the ceremony," Grissom sighed, eying the lone man not in the wedding party.

"I understand. I'm not upset. I'm just glad I get to be there," Nick said.

"You'll be my best man," Warrick offered.

"Dude, you're already married," Greg snickered.

"Oh shut up you bubble-burster," Warrick glared.

Greg stuck out his tongue in a childish manner, causing Grissom to think that perhaps Sara might change her mind about having him participate in the ceremony. Grissom and Brass shook their heads at the younger guys and headed into his house to get themselves ready for the impending ceremony. If the others weren't ready, they could easily be left out of the ceremony, or at least threatening that would get their butts in gear.

A/N: So I hope no one is too upset that Nick is the odd man out…I wanted to include Brass because of the whole trusting Grissom with his life thing. Then I wanted to include Warrick because I feel like I always leave him out and even though he's only a fictional character, I felt bad lol. Besides there was that whole "Grissom's favorite" thing earlier in the show, so I figured he'd be one of the best men. Besides, I think Nick is mature enough that he wouldn't be mad at being left out.


	26. Wedding Bells Are Ringing

**Chapter Twenty Six: Wedding Bells Are Ringing**

The girls arrived at the church before the boys, which was expected because it would take them longer to get fully dressed and ready. There was makeup to be touched up and hair to be perfected. All of them brought their dresses with them to avoid sitting in them and getting them all wrinkled. It was good that they arrived first anyway because everyone knew the tradition of the groom not being able to see the bride prior to the ceremony.

"These shoes are so uncomfortable," Sara fiddled with her nice shoes, trying to make them fit a little better.

"You may just have to deal with it through the ceremony. That part will be over before you know it," Catherine offered, "and then you can change into the more comfortable shoes that you brought. You can't get married in tennis shoes though."

"Why not? It's not like anyone will even see my feet under the dress," Sara said.

"Trust me, they might," Catherine smiled, "you'll be fine."

"Why am I so nervous?" Sara asked suddenly.

"It's normal; everyone gets nerves before the big ceremony. You just have to keep in mind how much you love Grissom and everything else will fall into place," Catherine advised.

Sara smiled, "I _do_ love that man. And this is what I want, but I have such nerves."

Catherine nodded, "It's probably the standing up in front of people part that has you more nervous than anything."

Catherine got into her bridesmaid dress and helped Lindsey get into hers. The dresses they had chosen were simple but elegant. They wore black dresses with thin straps and purple satin sashes. The dresses were just a little longer than knee-length and form fitting. Bailey, whose favorite color was purple, had a purple dress that matched the color of the sashes on the adults' dresses. It was a short sleeved dress with a big flowing skirt. Bailey's hair was pulled back into a pony tail and tied with a big purple bow and the hair in the pony tail was curly.

"I'm a princess!" Bailey said when she spotted herself in the mirror.

"Yes you are," Lindsey agreed.

"Cool," Bailey nodded.

Though she had the awkward walking cast, her dress was long and would cover it up. Their practice the previous evening had shown Bailey to be determined to walk down the aisle. While she had a funny gait due to her cast, she hadn't seemed to struggle with the task and looked forward to dropping flower petals.

When all the girls were dressed, Nick was allowed to enter their dressing area, "Okay, so I can't be in the wedding, but Grissom just realized that you guys have no professional photographer. So I have a job after all. I'd like to get a few shots of all you beautiful ladies before the wedding."

"Good thing he realized that," Sara said, "I mean I'm sure some of the others will bring their own cameras, but it would be awful to realize that we had no pictures of the wedding."

"Yeah," Nick nodded, "boy you should fire your wedding planner, whoever that may be, they did a sucky job, forgetting such an important element."

"Hey!" Catherine cried, "You try planning a wedding. Let's see if you remember every last detail."

"I know I would forget all kinds of stuff. I just mean that having a photographer is a glaring detail to leave out," Nick shook his head.

"Okay, let's please not start fighting," Sara pleaded, "I've got enough nerves without you guys arguing over something that doesn't matter. The important thing is that Nick is willing to be our photographer."

"Right, sorry," Catherine apologized.

The four girls posed for various shots. It almost seemed as though Nick was a professional photographer as he took shots of the girls individually, then all four ladies, then the bride and flower girl and finally the bride and bridesmaids.

"Perfect, thank you ladies," Nick smiled.

"Thank you Nick," Sara stepped forward and hugged him.

"Good luck darling, you're beautiful," he whispered as he left.

After Nick had taken photos of all the ladies, he went and took a seat near the first row of seats next to Sofia Curtis. He had not been seated for ten seconds when David Hodges tapped him on the shoulder.

"You planning on sitting there the whole time, big guy?" Hodges asked.

"No, in fact, I don't," Nick shot him a warning glare.

"Okay, I just wanted to know if I should move so I can see around you," Hodges shrugged.

"Knock yourself out," Nick suggested.

"Thanks, but no," Hodges smirked and slid down the bench to assure that he was clear of Nick.

"Thank you," Sofia turned to Nick with a smile, "he was annoying the hell out of me."

Nick laughed, "I didn't even have to do anything but sit down."

A few minutes later, everyone began to get into place. Grissom strode down to the front of the church and took his place in front of the minister. He nervously glanced over the small gathering of basically all people who worked at the lab. He spotted Nick speaking to Sofia and behind them were David Hodges and Wendy Simms. A few detectives sat near the back and Doc Robbins and David Phillips were seated in the middle of the church among a few other people from around the lab and PD.

In the church foyer, all the people in the wedding party began to line up in preparation for the start of the ceremony. Catherine was to walk down the aisle with Brass and Lindsey was almost comically mismatched with Warrick who was much taller than she. At the back, Sara stood with Greg who was awed by how amazing she looked in her wedding dress with her brunette hair in curls.

"Thanks for walking me down the aisle," Sara planted a quick kiss on the younger man's cheek.

"It's my honor," Greg blushed at her kiss.

"I really appreciate you as a friend and I was torn on who to have walk with me," Sara explained, "when the team got split up, you were really there for me and even though you didn't know all the stuff that was going on for me at that time, I really appreciated having someone to teach and keep me grounded. Plus, I love how you always make me laugh."

"It means a lot to me that you chose me and that you think so highly of me," Greg smiled, "I thought for sure that you'd choose Nick because he's more mature than I am."

Sara laughed, "You can be really mature when you want to."

They were interrupted by the music and Sara took a deep breath to soothe her nerves. Jim and Catherine led off the ceremony walking slow towards the altar, followed eventually by Lindsey and Warrick. Bailey marched down the aisle, spreading flower petals all over and drawing many in the crowd to proclaim "Aww, how cute."

Finally it was Greg and Sara's turn to walk down the aisle and as everyone turned to watch Sara, she was terrified that she would stumble in the uncomfortable shoes. Sara made it to the altar without a problem and Greg handed her over to Grissom and took his seat in the first row. Sara and Grissom stared into each other's eyes and went through the motions of the official wedding ceremony while Nick slipped into the aisle to take pictures. Afterwards they piled out into the church foyer where the entire wedding party formed a receiving line. There were lots of handshakes, hugs and questions about whose adorable little girl the flower girl was. They explained that Grissom and Sara were in the process of adopting the child and more congratulations were in order.

Grissom and Sara were able to get out into the limousine to head to the reception. They would have to pose for countless pictures before they were allowed to change into slightly more comfortable clothing. Once they were safely in the car, they both laughed nervously.

"I don't even remember if I said everything I was supposed to," Grissom admitted.

"Me either," Sara laughed, "So we both must have done it right or else they wouldn't have let us go."

"You look amazing," Grissom kissed her, "I didn't get a chance to say that before."

"Thank you," she smiled, "you don't look half bad yourself."

"Gee thanks," he laughed, "I mean it. You look more beautiful than I have ever seen you look."

"You are quite the handsome man yourself," Sara admitted, "wasn't Bailey adorable?"

"Yeah she was. I'll admit I wasn't fully paying attention to her walking down the aisle, but she looked so cute in that dress," he agreed.

"Poor Greg, I think I might have squeezed his arm a little too hard there before we walked down the aisle," she said, "he didn't say anything though, so I must not have cut off his circulation."

"We have some good friends, don't we?" Grissom asked, "I mean neither one of us had any family at our wedding, but they're just as good as having a real family."

"They're even better because they go to their own homes at the end of the day," she snickered.

* * *

A/N: So originally I had ended this story at Chapter 30, but I was just re-reading the end the other day and I didn't care for it. SO now I am working on another chapter or two to wrap it up. Bottom line: The story is winding its way down. Not to be a broken record, but as always thank you for reading and reviewing, you guys rock! 


	27. Mr And Mrs Grissom

**Chapter Twenty Seven: Mr. and Mrs. Grissom**

At the reception, the wedding party was gathered together for everyone to take pictures. Nick made sure to get a lot of good shots of Grissom and Sara together and various shots with the inclusion of the rest of the wedding party. After everyone was satisfied with the pictures, they all went to change into more comfortable clothing.

Sara was the most happy to be rid of her horribly uncomfortable shoes. She put on a pair of flat shoes and was glad that she never had much cause to wear fancy shoes. After she had on nice shoes and let her hair loose, she rejoined the crowd that was awaiting dinner. Grissom had beaten her back down to the reception and he looked rather annoyed by David Hodges.

"Hi honey," Sara smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Sorry Hodges, I've got to go," Grissom stepped away, then whispered, "thanks for rescuing me."

Sara laughed, "I know that Hodges drives us all nuts, but especially you since he seems to think he has some sort of special relationship with you."

"He's a kiss-ass," Grissom shook his head.

"I guess we better go take our places at the head of the table so that dinner can be served," Sara suggested.

Grissom checked his watch, "Oh yeah, some of these poor saps actually have to work later tonight."

Sara smacked his arm, "That's not nice. At least Ecklie is letting them show up late. Otherwise we would have had to have our wedding earlier. If he wasn't making some of the swing people work doubles and some of the day people work early, we wouldn't even be able to get away for a honeymoon."

"I know, we're lucky," he said genuinely, "I couldn't have asked for a better wedding gift from Conrad."

"I think not showing up to our wedding was a pretty nice gift too," Sara laughed.

"Don't count that one out yet, there's still plenty of time for him to show up to the reception," Grissom rolled his eyes.

As they reached the head table, Grissom pulled a chair out for Sara and then took his own seat between her and Brass. Catherine sat next to Sara and Lindsey and Warrick sat at the far ends of the table. Their meal was served and just before everyone started to eat, Brass stood up to give the traditional best man's speech.

"First of all, I just want to say that this is the single worst part of being best man," Brass joked, "as soon as I accepted the job, I regretted it because I knew I'd have to give a speech. I'm no good at speeches, so I'll just speak honestly. I've known Gil Grissom for…well let's just say for a long time. I frankly never thought I'd see the day when he actually got married.

"Gil's a good man, but he was never very good at dating women. Then Sara Sidle came to Vegas from San Francisco and I knew she was different. The way Grissom looked at her, I could just tell there was something special there. Although it took _them_ a hell of lot longer to recognize that, I guess we can't all be geniuses. Seriously though, it doesn't matter how long it took them to realize that they were in love because you can tell their love is real. It will last and I know they will be happy together for many years to come. Congratulations you two lovebirds."

The crowd applauded and everyone toasted the new couple and then dug into their meals. In the earlier rush to get dressed and prepared for the ceremony, many of them hadn't had much of a chance for lunch. The meal was finished up at a leisurely pace and then it came to the other part that the new bride and groom were dreading: the first dance.

"In their first dance as man and wife, I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Grissom!" the DJ announced.

Grissom led Sara onto the dance floor and they danced quite beautifully to the slow song, alone at first, but quickly joined by others. After they finished their dance, Brass broke in and took a turn with Sara while Grissom took a turn with Catherine. Sara was amazed when Grissom went and grabbed Bailey and had her stand on his feet while he danced around.

"That is just too cute," Greg Sanders smirked, "Grissom of all people is dancing with the little princess."

"Ouch! Greg pay attention and please don't crush my feet," Sara glared.

"Sorry, but you have to admit Grissom dancing with a three year old is adorable," Greg smiled.

"It is," Sara agreed, "I'm glad that those two are getting along so well. I can't wait until the day that she is all ours. No more social workers and no more supervised visits."

"You will make a good mother, Sara," Greg said seriously.

"Thank you, and thanks again for walking me down the aisle, it really meant a lot to me," Sara kissed his cheek.

After the song finished, Sara broke away from Greg and took a seat back at the head table. Even with the comfortable shoes on, her feet were beginning to really hurt. Nick joined her shortly afterwards and they both laughed as Greg took a turn dancing with Bailey.

"Congratulations, Sara, I know you will be very happy," Nick said.

"Thank you, Nick," she smiled.

"Now I know I'm really too late," he sighed.

"What?" she asked, surprised.

"Oh you know, when you first got here, we used to flirt so much and I thought I might have had something with you, but I knew your heart always belonged to Grissom. Now I know for sure that there's no chance for me," Nick explained.

"Aw Nick, I didn't know you felt that way," she felt bad.

"It's okay," he shook his head, "I always knew I never would've had a chance, but it's definitely not happening now. Honestly though, I'm happy for you, Grissom's a good man."

"I do love you, Nicky," she said softly, "just like a good friend."

"And I love you too, Sara," he smiled, "so when are they gonna cut the cake? I have to have a slice of that before I go to work. It looks delicious."

"Hmm I seem to recall seeing on a schedule of events somewhere that the cake would be cut about an hour after dinner," she said.

"Well then, I've got time to spare, I think I'll grab a dance with that pretty young girl in the purple dress," he left Sara alone.

Sara watched Nick dance with Bailey and shook her head. She never knew that Nick had feelings for her like that. They'd always flirted and joked around, but she was sure that it was in nothing more than a friendly manner. She shook those thoughts from her head as she spotted Grissom making his way to her.

"Sara! You're such a party pooper!" he proclaimed.

"Yep, that's me," she grinned.

"Come on, come dance some more. Everyone else is having a great time. I never even knew that I enjoyed dancing, but I'm having a good time," Grissom held out his hand to help her up.

"Okay, but when I'm too tired to do anything else later, you'll know why," she teased.

The DJ began to play some more fun music and everyone ended up laughing and out of breath by the time it was time to cut the cake. When they cut the cake, Catherine and Lindsey helped hand out slices to everyone. Bailey was delighted to sit between Sara and Grissom while everyone enjoyed a slice of white cake with butter cream frosting. The reception began to wind down after they ate their dessert and people started having to leave for work.

"Look, I think we tired someone out," Sara gestured to Bailey who had fallen asleep in a corner.

"She had a big day," Grissom said, "I'm feeling like I could go that way myself pretty soon."

Sara yawned in agreement, "Yeah it has been a long day now that you start to slow down and think about it."

"I can't wait to go home and have my wife to myself," Grissom said.

"Don't get too many crazy ideas; just remember we have to get up early to catch a flight for our honeymoon. Then you can get all the crazy ideas you want," Sara laughed.

* * *

A/N: So there you go. I hope you enjoyed that one. Update as to the progress of this story, I am currently writing chapter 32 and there's bound to be at least one or two more after this. I guess this story had a little more life left in it than I realized. 


	28. The Grissoms Return

**Chapter Twenty Eight: The Grissoms Return**

Grissom and Sara took a five day trip to Florida to enjoy their honeymoon. They could have gone to another destination like Hawaii or Rome or something, but they opted to go to somewhere closer to home. In their line of work, they never knew when a huge case could slam the lab and at least this way they'd be in the country. Besides, both CSIs had grown up in California, so it was nice to go to the opposite end of the country and see the Atlantic Ocean for a while.

Their honeymoon was a week of bliss and they were sorry to see it end. The trip back to Las Vegas seemed to take forever, especially when they had a long layover in Memphis, TN. It was one of those layovers where they had some significant time to kill, but not so much that they could actually leave the airport long enough to do anything. When their flight finally landed at McCarran they had enough time to go home, sleep, shower and head back to work. Unfortunately, they had not been able to take a day off between their flight home and starting work again.

"Hey lovebirds!" Greg grinned and greeted the pair, "I bet I know what you did all week."

"Greg!" Sara gasped.

"What? You went to Florida…come on you were on the beach all week," he laughed.

Grissom, who had turned a bright shade of red, said, "Yes we did spend quite a bit of time relaxing on the beach. It was so quiet."

"Is that some sort of subtle hint that I'm noisy?" Greg pretended to be offended.

"Did I say that?" Grissom shrugged.

"I think it was implied," Greg huffed, "fine, you won't be hearing a peep from me all shift."

"Yes!" Sara exclaimed.

Greg narrowed his eyes at her and walked away.

"You think he will last even an hour?" Grissom asked loud enough that Greg could hear.

"I don't even give him five minutes," Sara added.

Greg did not fall for their teases and stuck his tongue out at them as he disappeared into the break room. On his way in, he nearly slammed into Catherine who was on her way out.

"Hey Greg, watch it!" Catherine barely avoided getting bowled over.

"Hey Cath," Grissom smiled and greeted her.

"Hey guys! How are you? You both look wonderful, I take it you had a wonderful honeymoon," Catherine gushed.

"It was heavenly," Sara nodded.

"I wish it wouldn't have ended," Grissom agreed, "but the crime lab would fall apart without us."

"Oh yeah, I was a horrible temporary supervisor," Catherine said, "everyone else pretty much quit and I had to handle all the cases myself."

"Right," Grissom laughed.

"No, but seriously, I didn't get to all the paperwork," Catherine shrugged, "you must be rubbing off on me."

"Oh joy," Grissom sighed, "well I better go see what you left for me."

"It's not that bad, I promise," Catherine said.

Once Grissom was out of earshot, Catherine asked, "What did you guys do the whole time?"

"Honestly a lot of relaxation on the beach. Then there was other stuff, nothing you need to know details about," Sara told her.

"Oh I'll bet," Catherine smirked, "remember I got married and had a honeymoon. I know what kind of 'other stuff' goes on."

"Sara!" Nick interrupted their conversation.

"Hi Nicky," Sara hugged her friend, "how are you?"

"I'm the same as always. How about you? You look…I don't know, different," Nick said.

"A week of rest and relaxation can do wonders. I don't know why I've been avoiding taking a vacation all these years," Sara laughed.

"You couldn't stand to be away from us," Catherine teased.

"Actually, it was more that I had no desire to be away from the job. And until Grissom, I never really had anyone to go with. I dated that paramedic a few years ago, but he ended up a real jerk."

"Well you were gone for a week and this place is the same as always," Nick shrugged.

"I know," Sara smiled, "that's why I think from now on I will not be afraid of vacation time."

"Oh! That reminds me, a social worker stopped by here the other day," Catherine said, "she asked me some questions about you and Grissom and your lifestyle."

"Really?" Sara asked.

"Yeah, they were just wondering what kind of plans you have for Bailey since you both work graveyard," Catherine admitted, "I'm not supposed to really say what we talked about, but I thought you should know."

"What did you tell them?" Sara asked.

"I told her that you were flexible in your schedule and one of you would be willing to work days if it was necessary. And that you have a reliable babysitter lined up to stay over and make sure Bailey is okay at night if you do stay on grave," she explained.

"Babysitter? But we don't…" Sara started.

"Lindsey has got you covered. She thought that Bailey was just adorable at the wedding and she seriously told me that if you guys needed a babysitter she's available," Catherine told her.

"Wow, Catherine, tell her thanks," Sara smiled, "I think they're going to let us complete the adoption soon, but I guess they're still doing thorough background checks."

"You two would make wonderful parents, the girl is already in love with you, I'm sure you'll get her," Nick put in.

"Thanks Nick," Sara was truly appreciative, "if the truth be told I'm a little nervous to become a mother while I'm still getting used to being a wife, but I do love Bailey already."

"That's what really matters. Everything else is a formality. You and Grissom are good people and you adore Bailey who adores you, they can hardly say no. Especially since you don't care about her background. A lot of people are turned off by a child with such a traumatic past that the child is still upset over," Catherine explained.

"I know it won't be easy for her growing up without her real parents, but I want to provide a loving home for her," Sara said.

The three CSIs made their way eventually to the break room where Greg Sanders was silently contemplating a can of soda. He didn't even glance up as the others entered and they all wondered what the heck he was doing.

"Greg you're meant to drink that, not read it," Nick shook his head, "see the little tab on the top? It opens a magical hole that you drink through."

Greg rolled his eyes and replaced the soda in the fridge.

"What's your problem?" Catherine asked, noting his unusually silent demeanor.

"I think Grissom offended him by suggesting that he's too talkative and so he swore that he would be quiet all night," Sara chuckled.

"I give him ten minutes," Nick offered.

"I gave him five and he's already beaten that," Sara shrugged, "maybe our little Greggo has more will power than we realize."

"He will talk before shift is over," Catherine said matter-of-factly.

"What makes you so sure?" Nick asked.

Catherine grinned, "Because the detectives just found the suspects for the case I put him on last night and he has to go do an interrogation."

* * *

A/N: Yeah yeah, I left out the specifics of the honeymoon because I wanted to keep the story rating appropriate…besides you all have active imaginations. ;) I apologize for the delay in posting this chapter. I hurt my wrist at work the other day and I have barely turned on the computer because…well typing hurts and if I'm not typing (aka writing a story or e-mails) I don't have much of a use for the computer. Thank you for your patience, for reading and as always thanks a million for your wonderful reviews. You guys are the greatest readers. 


	29. New Beginnings

**Chapter Twenty Nine: New Beginnings**

"Do I really have to do this?" Grissom groaned as he and Sara started to re-paint his former study.

"Gil, Bailey needs to have her own bedroom. What do you expect her to sleep with Bruno?" Sara rolled her eyes, "quit bitching and start painting!"

Grissom sighed, "It's not that I don't want her to have a nice room, it's just I've spent a lot of hours in here. It seems wrong to paint it purple."

"Get over it and paint!" Sara ordered.

The two spent the entire morning painting the study a new pale shade of purple. Grissom eventually quit complaining and actually decided he liked the color. Their adoption of Bailey was about to be finalized and they wanted to surprise her with a space of her own when she came to live with them. They knew her favorite color was purple, so Sara picked out a shade of purple and they painted the room. All that was left was to add furniture, but that would have to wait until the paint was sufficiently dry.

"I can't believe she's really going to be ours," Sara said as they both lay back and looked at their work.

"We're doing the right thing. For all we know your little pregnancy scare was a sign that we're not supposed to have a child that way," Grissom suggested.

"Gil, since when do you believe in signs?" she asked.

"I don't necessarily, I was just making a casual observation," he shrugged.

"What about Bruno?" Sara asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Grissom was confused, "what about him?"

"Do you think he'll like her? I mean, what if they don't get along?" she worried.

"Come on Sara, Bruno is the sweetest dog. He always loves the children who run up to him at the park, he'll be fine. And remember when she wanted to see him?" he asked.

"You're right, I'm just nervous is all," she sighed.

"Everything will be fine. Bailey is a good kid too. We have a babysitter who can take care of her when we both have to be at work. It's just a matter of days and then this will all be real," he told her, "remember, you really want this."

"I know," she nodded, "but does that not entitle me to a case of nerves?"

"I'm nervous too," he admitted, "but we can do this. We got married and would you have even thought that possible a year ago?"

"I guess not," she laughed, "anything is possible I suppose."

"Hey, I've got an idea, why don't we go on a little shopping trip?" Grissom offered, "Pick out some toys and things to make Bailey feel at home."

"That's a wonderful idea," Sara leaned over and kissed him.

The couple drove to the mall and visited the toy store and picked out what they hoped were age appropriate toys. Grissom had insisted on picking out one toy by himself. When he rejoined Sara he had a tiny stuffed dog.

"Aw, that's adorable," Sara examined the toy, "she'll love it."

The days between painting what was to be Bailey's room and the day that they were going to bring her home passed painfully slowly. They arranged the furniture in the room and Sara placed a Cinderella bedspread across the tiny bed. When all the final touches seemed to be in place, they had nothing left to do but wait.

Finally the time came for them to pick up Bailey for what would hopefully be her last stay at the family courts. Grissom picked up their official completed adoption papers while Sara went and picked Bailey and her few belongings up.

"I go to your house today?" Bailey asked.

"Yes, sweetie. It's just like we talked about. You're going to come and live with me and Grissom," Sara explained.

"Yay!" Bailey planted a sloppy kiss on the end of Sara's nose.

Sara laughed, "Let's go find your new daddy."

Bailey's eyes lit up, "Yeah!"

They met up with Grissom in the lobby and led her out of the building towards Sara's car. They loaded her into a booster safety seat in the back and drove home.

"Guess what?" Grissom asked.

"What?" Bailey replied.

"You're going to have a dog," Grissom told her.

Bailey's jaw dropped, "I get a doggy?"

"Yes, you remember when I told you about my dog, Bruno?" he questioned.

"Uh huh," Bailey nodded, "I get to see him now?"

"You don't only get to see him, he's going to be your dog now too," Grissom smiled as the child clapped her hands joyfully together.

Sara exchanged a glance with him and they both knew that this was what they really wanted. Maybe they couldn't have their own child, but that was not totally out of the question either. At any rate, Bailey was going to be a wonderful addition to their little family. They pulled in the driveway and announced that this was to be Bailey's new home. Grissom lifted her out of the back seat and Sara led the way inside to Bailey's new bedroom.

The walking cast Bailey had worn at the wedding was now gone and she walked with a slight limp, but her physical therapy seemed to have done wonders. Grissom set her down and instructed her to close her eyes.

Sara opened the door with a flourish and announced, "Open your eyes, this is your new bedroom!"

Bailey opened her eyes, but before she could see the new room, Bruno ran in front of her and covered her face with doggy kisses.

Grissom laughed, "Bailey, meet our dog Bruno."

"Hi puppy," Bailey hugged the boxer's neck.

"Bruno, you are such a moment killer," Sara shook her head.

"Good dog," Bailey kissed him back.

"Now that these two have exchanged a disgusting amount of saliva, I think it's time for Bailey to inspect her new room," Grissom gently pried the dog away from the child.

Bailey took three steps into the room and screamed, "Cinderella!"

Sara stepped in behind her, "Yes honey, I knew that was your favorite story, so I thought you'd like that blanket."

"My room is purple," Bailey smiled and crawled up onto the bed where Grissom had placed the stuffed dog he'd picked out for her, "A doggy!"

"So you like your new room?" Grissom asked.

"Yes!" Bailey immediately replied.

"Three year olds are much easier to please than teenagers," Sara winked.

"Oh God, she's just come home, please don't make me worry about the days when she's a teenager," Grissom groaned.

Sara laughed, "It's a long way off, but someday it will happen."

Grissom placed an arm around Sara, "I love you, honey."

"I love you too," she returned.

"Are you going to be my mommy now?" Bailey asked, throwing Sara off guard.

"Yes," she nodded slowly, "but you don't have to call me mommy if it makes you sad. I know you still miss your mom."

"I want you to be my mommy," Bailey crawled off the bed and came over to embrace Sara.

* * *

A/N: Awww. Yes there it is; the chapter a lot of you have been waiting for. Bailey is now officially a Grissom. This story is still winding down and has only a few chapters left in it I feel. But whoever said there couldn't be a sequel…not that there's one in the works yet, it could happen. 


	30. Happy Birthday

**Chapter Thirty: Happy Birthday**

Shortly after Grissom and Sara's adoption of Bailey was official, the child was going to have her fourth birthday. Her time as a Grissom so far had been a tough adjustment to having her parents work all night, but she gradually got used to it.

"We have to have some sort of party for her," Grissom told Sara as they shared a late night snack in the break room.

"I know, but we don't know anyone with kids her age," Sara reminded him.

"True," he sighed, "but we can still have a party. The others will want to come to a party and bring her gifts."

"Yeah, it would just be nice to have someone her age," Sara said.

"Hmm," Grissom mused, "I guess we'll have to find some kids her age for her to play with."

The pair went ahead and planned a party for Bailey with their adult friends. Lindsey Willows was invited and even though she was much older, she was friends with Bailey already. She had been babysitting while the Grissoms were at work. It was a simple babysitting job because all she had to do was feed the child dinner and then entertain her until her bedtime. Sara even asked Lindsey advice for planning a party for a little girl because she wasn't quite sure how to go about it.

When Bailey's birthday arrived, Sara took the previous night off work so that she could spend the entire special day with her new daughter. In the early afternoon, Lindsey and Catherine were going to come over and help set up the decorations and then the rest of the team would arrive for a barbecue/birthday party.

"Good morning Birthday girl!" Sara announced as she woke Bailey up.

"It's my birthday?" Bailey asked groggily.

"Yes! You are four years old today," Sara told her with a kiss to the forehead.

"I'm a big girl now!" Bailey declared.

"Yes you certainly are," Sara smiled, "what would you like for breakfast today? It's your special day so I'll make what you want."

"I like pancakes," Bailey told her.

"Hmm, I'm afraid I don't have all the ingredients for pancakes, do you like French toast?" Sara asked.

"Oooh yeah. My mommy makes it with strawberries," Bailey started, and then sniffled because she realized her mommy was no longer alive.

"It's okay sweetie, I know you miss your family. It's hard for all three of us to get used to being a family, but we'll work on it together," Sara lifted her up out of her bed, "how about you come to the kitchen and be my special cook's assistant?"

"I can help you?" Bailey asked.

"Sure, I need an assistant," Sara nodded.

"Cool," Bailey wrapped her arms around Sara's neck in a hug, "this will be the best birthday ever."

The girls made a delicious breakfast together and surprised Grissom when he came in from work, "Oooh, I don't know what you made, but it smells delicious."

"Daddy, we made French toast!" Bailey told him as he kissed her hello.

"I hope you made a lot because I'm starving," he smiled and kissed the other woman of the house, "other than being fantastic cooks, how are my girls?"

"I'm four today," Bailey announced.

"I know. Happy Birthday, sweetie," Grissom said.

"Our day just started," Sara explained, "not having to work and all I was able to sleep in. It was nice."

"Sure rub it in," Grissom teased, "look what I have for the birthday girl."

Bailey grabbed the small packaged he offered and tore it open as only a child was capable of doing. She pulled out a small framed butterfly.

"That's a Purple Spotted Swallowtail," Grissom explained.

"It's pretty," Bailey gazed at the framed insect.

"You know that's a real butterfly in there," Grissom told her, "I hope you like insects because I love them. I even have a pet spider."

Bailey's eyes widened, "You have a pet spider?!"

"Not here, I keep her at work," Grissom explained, "I have all kinds of bugs."

"Bugs are cool sometimes, but some of them are scary," Bailey admitted, "I like butterflies though."

"After breakfast, we can go hang that one in your room," Sara offered, "I should've known you'd give her some sort of insect."

"What? I'm an entomologist, you've seen my collection in my office. I found this one at an online auction and I got it for Bailey because it's purple," Grissom defended, "besides I thought girls liked butterflies."

"It was very thoughtful of you," Sara hugged him, "shall we eat before our food gets cold?"

After breakfast, Grissom went to take a nap because he needed some rest before the party. Catherine arrived with Lindsey and both bore gifts for Bailey. Sara explained she would have to wait until later to open them up because there were other people bringing gifts too. They went into the backyard where Bruno enthusiastically greeted the newcomers. Catherine brought some old decorations she'd had from one of Lindsey's birthdays when she was younger. Together Sara and Catherine put the decorations up as Lindsey and Bailey played with the dog who was soaking up every second of attention.

Within the hour, everything was set and the other CSIs began to show up. They all gathered in the back yard as Grissom cooked their food on the barbecue. He made hotdogs and for Sara's sake he also made veggie burgers. Everyone sat down to have lunch and then afterwards played some party games.

"All right, I think it's time to open some presents and then have some cake before you guys have to go to work," Sara announced.

"Presents?" Bailey asked.

"You can't have a birthday without presents, right?" Greg asked.

"Nope," Bailey smiled and followed everyone inside to where they'd piled up the gifts they'd brought for her.

"This one is from me and Lindsey," Catherine handed her a small package.

Bailey tore into the pink wrapping paper and pulled out a pair of DVDs. One was Cinderella and the other was Aladdin. Of course Bailey knew the story of Cinderella and she had seen the movie before, but she'd never seen Aladdin. She was excited to own her own copy of Cinderella too.

"Thanks!" Bailey exclaimed.

The next package was from Nick and Bailey tore it open, "What is it?"

"A chem set," Nick grinned, "I got one for Lindsey when she was younger. All kids should have their own chemistry set."

"Okay," Bailey was clearly confused, but smiled anyway, "thank you."

The next few presents were various outfits from Sara. Since Bailey was low on her own clothing, she had needed some new clothes. Catherine had helped Sara shop for the correct sizes, but Sara had picked out the outfits herself. Warrick had gotten Candy Land for Bailey; a game he claimed was one of his childhood favorites. The last couple of presents were from both Grissom and Sara. They got her a pretty little purple bicycle with pink streamers on the handlebars.

"I can't ride a bike," Bailey said sadly.

"That's okay, we'll teach you," Grissom assured her, "every little kid has to ride a bicycle!"

"Is it hard?" Bailey asked.

"It can be, but you should be able to get it in no time," Sara assured her, "you don't have to be good at it right away. I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was 8 years old."

"What if I fall off?" she asked.

"It happens, but that's why you wear a helmet. And if you don't want to learn to ride it yet, you don't have to," Grissom told her.

Sara slipped back into the house while everyone stood out in the yard and admired Bailey's new wheels. She returned baring a big chocolate cake with four lit candles on it. She placed it on the table and everyone gathered and sang happy birthday to Bailey.

* * *

A/N: So since I'm not an entomologist (although I did take one entomology course in college) I looked up purple butterflies and found this real framed butterfly online. Bailey likes purple, Grissom is an entomologist…it just seemed like the right gift. And also, just FYI, this is the longest fic I've ever written…no joke. Oh, one last point, I meant to post this a while ago, but I don't know what the heck happened really, guess I forgot. I'll try not to let the next chapter get away from me like that since really it's just needing a proofread before it gets posted.


	31. I Said No!

**Chapter Thirty One: I Said No!**

While their life together was initially very smooth and happy, Sara sensed that trouble was brewing. After Bailey's fourth birthday, the child withdrew a little and grew quieter around her new parents. She spent a lot of time alone in her room, playing with her toys. It was only a matter of time before things blew up.

"Bailey, dinner will be ready in a few minutes, put your toys away please," Sara said to her one evening.

"No," Bailey said softly.

"What?" Sara really hadn't heard her.

"I said no!" Bailey crossed her arms.

Sara entered Bailey's room and put her hands on her hips, "Bailey Grissom, what is wrong with you?"

"I don't wanna put up my toys," Bailey shrugged.

Sara was definitely new to this, but she was certain she had to be firm, "Bailey, I didn't give you a choice. I want you to clean up before dinner."

"You're not my real mommy! I don't have to listen to you!" Bailey shouted.

"I know I'm not your real mother," Sara was taken aback, "but I love you and I want to be your mommy anyway. And sometimes mommies have to make you do things you don't want to do."

"But you're _not_ my mommy, so you can't," Bailey crawled onto her bed, pouting.

"Fine, you can go without dinner then," Sara was frustrated.

"Good," Bailey huffed.

Sara stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her. She let a couple tears slip and was surprised that an argument with a four year old had upset her so much. When Bailey had said that Sara was not her mom, it had really hurt. Of course Sara knew she was not her mother, but since the adoption, Bailey had been calling her mommy. She was in a difficult position because there was no arguing that fact, and she wasn't sure what to do other than let their emotions cool down.

Grissom came home from the grocery store where he had gotten a couple of last minute items that Sara needed for the meal. He immediately put down the groceries when he saw the tears on Sara's cheeks and gathered her into a hug.

"What's wrong sweetie?" he asked.

"Bailey. I asked her to put her toys away before dinner and she threw a fit and said that I wasn't her real mommy and I couldn't make her do anything," Sara explained, "it's silly I know that I'm this upset, but it really hurt my feelings."

"I'm sorry," Grissom kissed her and gently wiped away the tears, "we knew there were bound to be tough times ahead. You're upset because you care about her."

She sniffled, "Yeah I really do. She refused to pick up and so I told her she could go without dinner."

"Maybe that's a good idea. At least until she calms down. Outbursts in kids are not uncommon. I'm sure she'll get over whatever was bothering her and then she can have some dinner," he suggested, "but definitely no dessert."

Sara smiled, "Who says I made dessert?"

"I bought a banana cream pie," he picked up the groceries he'd brought in.

"Well let's just put that in the refrigerator for later," she grabbed the dessert, "because we'll be having none of it before our meal."

They sat down to enjoy their meal together although he noticed that Sara kept glancing sideways at the empty spot usually occupied by their adoptive daughter.

"You're doing the right thing," Grissom told her.

"Hmm?" she asked, distracted.

"By going through with the punishment. She's just testing her boundaries and she will have to learn that it's not acceptable to disobey her parents," Grissom explained.

"I hope you're right," she sighed.

"How about you go and talk with her now and I'll clean up our dishes?" he offered.

"Okay, wish me luck," she rose from the table and headed to Bailey's room.

She quietly entered to find Bailey sprawled across the bed. It was apparent that she had been crying, but wasn't any longer.

"Hi honey," Sara said, taking a seat on the edge of the bed, "are you still mad at me?"

"No," Bailey sighed, "can I have dinner?"

"First you have to apologize for being so mean to me earlier," Sara said.

"I'm sorry," Bailey said softly.

"It's okay, I know you were just mad," Sara offered.

"I was. I didn't mean to get that mad though," Bailey leaned in to Sara for a hug.

"I see you picked up those toys after all," Sara smiled.

Bailey nodded, "I know I was bad."

"You're not a bad girl, you just had a moment. We all have them," Sara said, "even I have times where I get mad at people even though they didn't do anything wrong."

"You do?" Bailey asked, intrigued.

"Yep even me," Sara laughed, "the important thing is to always apologize. You never want to go to bed mad because you never know if you'll see that person again to apologize."

"Like my family?" Bailey asked.

"Exactly," Sara nodded, "so I bet you're pretty hungry now. I'll serve you up some dinner, but then you'll have to go to bed early."

"Okay," Bailey agreed.

"Good," Sara lifted the child up into her arms and carried her to the kitchen where Grissom was just finished cleaning up.

"Hi Bailey," he greeted her.

"Hi Dad," she replied.

Grissom smiled at the fact that she called him 'dad', "So you got into a little fight with mommy earlier?"

"Yeah," Bailey nodded, "I said I'm sorry though."

"Good, I'm glad to hear it," Grissom said, "there's some dinner left for you."

* * *

A/N: There was bound to be trouble in paradise. Kids are moody, we all know it. Bailey has reason to be too, having lost her entire family. This chapter is definitely on the shorter side, but the next one will be coming soon. The end of this story is so nearby you can almost see it from here. Reviews are always much appreciated and you guys are the greatest, so I will be sad in a way to see this one end because I have looked forward to reading the reviews. 


	32. Something's Gotta Give

**Chapter Thirty Two: Something's Gotta Give**

Over the next couple of weeks, Bailey was becoming very combative and argumentative. Even Lindsey was having a hard time getting along with the child. Grissom and Sara were both coming to their rope's end and were at a loss for what to do with her. They loved her very much and sending her back to foster care was not an option. With a biological child, you couldn't just get rid of them when they got to be too much of a handful. So they wanted to treat Bailey in much the same way, but something had to give.

"What did you do when Lindsey was getting out of control after Eddie's death?" Grissom asked his friend and confidant, Catherine.

"Well, she was a bit older, so I put her into a stricter school," Catherine explained.

"Which obviously doesn't apply to a four year old," Grissom sighed.

"You're in a delicate spot with her. You have to lay down the rules and let her know that she can't keep up this way, but you know full well that her parents were killed so she has a lot of issues. Maybe you might have to go talk to a counselor as a family to see what the underlying issue is. She was a sweet girl when you adopted her, the only thing that's changed since then is that she's living with you," Catherine suggested.

"Hmm, I never thought of that. But you're right, that might be something we need to look into," Grissom shrugged, "it certainly wouldn't hurt. Talking to a professional who knows more about kids than Sara or I do would be a good idea."

"Mention it to Sara and then see about scheduling a session," Catherine said, "but be sure and tell Bailey what you're up to. A child who gets left out of the loop can be even angrier with you."

"Thank you so much for the advice, Cath," Grissom told her genuinely.

Catherine smiled, "It's not easy being a parent and I'm sure it's even more difficult for you since you adopted your daughter."

"I knew it would be hard, but I wasn't expecting such a challenge so early on," Grissom sighed.

Catherine stood up to leave him to his thoughts, "Just know you can always come to me for advice."

Grissom decided to send Sara a text message: 

"_Hon, we should talk about what to do about Bailey. –G"_

Sara was in the field when she received the text from her husband. She felt a sudden stab of worry, but had seen this one coming. Bailey was arguing over every little thing and it was impossible to live with her this way.

"Getting love messages from your husband?" Greg raised an eyebrow.

"What? No," Sara laughed, "it's nothing like that."

"Suuuuure," Greg snickered.

Sara rolled her eyes, "Are you ever gonna grow up, Greggo?"

"Not anytime soon," he grinned.

"Great," she sighed, "it's bad enough having a moody four year old at home, now I have to have a goofy 33 year old to deal with at work."

"You know you love me," he gave her the puppy dog look.

"Damn, you're right," she chuckled, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"So you having problems with Bailey?" he asked as they packed up their gear and loaded the evidence into the SUV.

Sara closed up her field kit with a groan, "Yeah. She's been so argumentative lately about everything. The other day she even said I couldn't make her clean up because I'm not really her mom."

"Ouch," Greg gasped, "she really said that?"

Sara nodded sadly, "So that message from Gil was about her."

"I see," Greg nodded, "well I hope you can get things straightened out. I know you were really looking forward to welcoming her to your family."

"I'd hate for it to get this far and realize that I suck at parenting," she told him.

"Oh I'm sure it's not anything you're doing wrong," he offered, "she's just got a lot of emotional trauma to deal with and a lot of kids do so by acting out."

Greg drove them back to the lab where they unloaded their evidence and gear in relative silence. Greg split up the evidence he had collected by where it needed to go. There was quite a pile for Hodges which was both good and bad. Good because it would make Hodges have to work and stay away from everyone else. It was bad because he would have to spend a long time with Hodges explaining all his results. He offered to take Sara's evidence too and she thanked him, splitting off to go find Grissom.

Surprisingly, he was not in either the break room or his office. She bumped into Warrick though, who was on the same case.

"Any idea where Grissom is?" she asked.

"No, I was actually just looking for him," Warrick said.

"Oh," she sighed.

"How have you been, Sara?" Warrick queried.

"Pretty good. Little bit of trouble at home with our daughter, but I'm enjoying married life. I don't have to hide my love for Grissom every day," she explained.

"Yeah being married can be nice," he sighed, "but it can definitely have it's downsides."

"Are things not working out between you and Tina?" she asked.

He heaved a sigh, "No I suppose we're heading to a divorce. I guess we got married too fast without _really_ knowing each other."

"I'm sorry to hear that, I hope you work things out," Sara gave him a quick hug.

"Thanks, I think Grissom might have gone down to see Doc Robbins," Warrick said suddenly, "I remember he said something about an autopsy."

The pair headed for the morgue and Sara let Warrick go into the autopsy room and get the update on his case. He apparently told Grissom that Sara was waiting for him because a moment later he came out.

"Hi sweetie," he kissed her after discarding his surgical gown.

"I got your text message," she announced.

He took a deep breath, "Yeah. I talked to Catherine earlier and she suggested we might want to go as a family to see a counselor."

Sara winced, "I'm not a big fan of counselors as you know, but I'm coming down to the point where I will resort to that."

"I know you've not had pleasant experiences in the past with having to see them, but I think we need someone who might be better able to get inside the mind of a four year old. Clearly neither one of us knows what the heck we're doing. We need someone else to help us," Grissom explained, "it's something we've got to try."

"All right, at least one session couldn't hurt," Sara relented, "when are we going to do it?"

"Given the headache I had last night, I'd say as soon as we can get an appointment set up. Perhaps I can talk to child services and see if they can recommend a good therapist," Grissom shrugged, "because I sure don't know any family counselors."

A/N: Well, I hate to say it, but after this chapter, there are only two more left, so this story will be finished before the end of the week. I'm sorry to see it end in a way, but I'll be glad to get a break from writing too.


	33. Time For A Change

**Chapter Thirty Three: Time For a Change**

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Grissom, this must be Bailey," Dr. Melissa Thompson said with a warm smile.

"Yes, this is our daughter Bailey," Grissom said.

"Hi," Bailey said quietly, never quite looking up from the floor.

"Bailey, before we even start, I want you to understand something," Dr. Thompson said, "I want you to know that you are not in trouble. You can feel free to say whatever you really want to here and you will not be yelled at for it."

"She's right," Sara put in, "you aren't in any trouble and we just want to talk honestly here."

"Okay," Bailey gave another one word response.

"So your parents tell me that you've been arguing with them a lot lately," Dr. Thompson said, "is it because you're angry?"

"Duh," Bailey started.

"Don't get mad at me, please," Dr. Thompson said, "would it help if they left the room for a few minutes so you can talk without them here?"

Bailey raised her head at this and nodded that she did indeed think that would help. Dr. Thompson indicated that Grissom and Sara should exit the room and told them she would call them back in when it was appropriate.

They sat silently in Dr. Thompson's outer offices and glanced around at the décor. It was typical of what you would expect to find in such a place. The walls were painted a light shade of green that was intended to be soothing. There were some simple children's toys and books in one corner and a bookshelf full of various medical and psychology books. Time seemed to pass by painfully slowly and they were both curious as to what Bailey and the doctor were talking about.

Finally the door opened, "Okay, we're ready for you guys to rejoin us."

The Grissoms walked back into the doctor's office where Bailey was finally sitting with her head up, but it was apparent she had been crying.

"Bailey, would you like to tell them what you told me?" Dr. Thompson asked.

Bailey shook her head, but then saw that she really didn't have a choice, "Fine. I'm sad because you are never home at night. And when you are home, you sleep a lot. I feel like I'm alone all the time."

"But we have Lindsey to stay with you," Grissom furrowed his brow.

"It's not the same!" Bailey cried, "I miss my mommy and daddy. I want you to spend time with me."

Dr. Thompson broke in, "Bailey revealed to me that you both work the overnight shift. She says her babysitter is very nice, but she really feels abandoned when you both work all night. She has nightmares about the car accident and she wants one of you to be there for her."

"Wow," Sara said, "I didn't realize you felt like that Bailey."

Bailey sniffled, "I just want you to be like my first mommy. She stayed with me all day and we played games and made cookies. And I got to play with my brother too."

Grissom and Sara exchanged a look, "And this is why you've been acting up so much?"

"I didn't know it, but Dr. told me that when I miss you, I get mad and want to be mean to you," Bailey explained.

"I told her that sometimes when we are upset with someone, instead of telling them why with our words, we resort to acting in ways we know are wrong. We often do and say things to purposely hurt someone's feelings. I explained that this is normal behavior, but it's better if we go to someone who is upsetting us and talk to them. A lot of times, we don't even realize that we've upset someone else until they tell us," Dr. Thompson offered.

"Well, we knew that when Bailey came to live with us, we might have to alter our work schedule," Sara said, "I guess it's apparent now that we will have to."

"You don't obviously have to quit your job, but maybe if one of you could work days while the other works nights. I know that might not be ideal for you two and your relationship, but it's certainly worth looking into."

"This is something we'll have to discuss much more in depth with each other," Grissom said, "but Bailey, would you be happier if one of us was home with you at night?"

"Yes, I get scared by bad dreams," Bailey said softly, "I want someone to keep me safe."

"I want you to feel safe and if that means I have to rearrange the hours I work, I will do it for you, sweetie," Sara told her.

"Okay," Bailey reached over and hugged her new mom, "I love you, Sara."

Sara smiled, "I love you too, more than you may know."

Grissom, feeling left out, joined in the love, "And I love both of you."

"All right, so I can see that you are a very loving family," Dr. Thompson jumped in, "so the real problem with you guys was a lack of communication. I know that most counselors would push to get more sessions out of you and take more money, but I honestly think you guys are going to be fine. However, if you ever have more trouble, don't hesitate to come back."

"Thank you, Doctor," Grissom stood and shook hands.

"Yes, thanks for your help," Sara also shook her hand.

"And just remember Bailey, before you get mad, try and use your words to let someone know why you're upset," Dr. Thompson told the child.

"I will," Bailey hugged the doctor goodbye.

After their very productive session of therapy, the family decided to head out for some ice cream. Grissom and Sara knew they would have to discuss what they would do for changing around their work schedules later, but for now they wanted to celebrate a fresh start. Hopefully this time around, things would be smoother. Bailey seemed to be immediately happier again and it was understandable that she felt abandoned. It almost seemed as though this was too easy of a fix, but sometimes the simplest things created big issues.

"So Bailey, what is your favorite kind of ice cream?" Grissom asked as they waited in line at an ice cream store.

"I like chocolate," she told him.

"I prefer vanilla ice cream with stuff in it," Sara said, "you can put syrup on it or have pieces of cookie dough in it."

"I just prefer plain old vanilla ice cream," Grissom shrugged, "it may be boring, but it's a tasty classic."

"Can I have a chocolate ice cream cone?" Bailey asked.

"Of course," Grissom said, "and Sara what do you want?"

"I was thinking we could share one of those banana splits," she gestured as someone walked by with a massive mound of ice cream, syrup and fruit.

"That does look good, but I couldn't finish one myself," Grissom eyed the huge dessert.

"Which is why I suggested we share," Sara said.

"Why don't you ladies go find us a table to sit at and I will order our ice cream," Grissom suggested.

Sara let Bailey chose a table to sit at and slid into the booth next to her, "Would you like it if I worked days and then was home at night with you?"

"I'd be home with dad all day?" Bailey asked.

Sara nodded, "But then I'd be home at night."

"I wish you didn't have to work at all," Bailey said hopefully.

"I know, but I like my job and it's not something I can just quit altogether," Sara explained.

"What is your job anyway?" Bailey asked.

"Well, you know how cops chase the bad guys after they do something bad?" Sara asked.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Grissom and I go back to where the bad guys did something wrong and we try to pick up the pieces and figure out what they did. Sometimes the cops can't find the bad guy and so we go look for stuff that they might have left behind to let the cops catch up to them," Sara explained, "in a way it's like we put together a puzzle so that the police can get the bad guys and put them in jail."

"Oh," Bailey shrugged, indicating she didn't understand really but was satisfied with the answer.

"All right, here is your chocolate ice cream cone," Grissom handed Bailey her dessert, "and here is our deliciously fattening treat."

* * *

A/N: Ah things are starting to look up. I hope you enjoyed this second to LAST chapter. That's right, this story is really and truly coming to a close. It's been one heck of a ride, I've had a blast writing it and reading your reviews. And don't worry, the last chapter is not a short one, so hopefully you will be able to walk away satisfied. See you one last time in the final chapter. It won't take days for that one to be uploaded either, I've just been really sick and haven't felt like hardly even sitting up long enough to turn on the computer. 


	34. Happily Ever After

**Chapter Thirty Four: Happily Ever After**

When the family finished their ice cream, they drove home and put Bailey to bed. Grissom called in to the lab and after ascertaining that the case load was light, said that he and Sara would be a little late to work tonight.

"Okay, this will take a little time after we even decide what we're going to do, but I think we need to sit down now and figure this out," Grissom said.

"I agree," Sara voiced her approval of the plan.

"If you work days, you will be here at night for Bailey, but then you and I would start to hardly see one another," Grissom pointed out.

"True," she nodded, "but I think dinnertime would overlap. It would mean a lot less time together initially, but after a little while I think we could work it out so that we can at least have days off together."

"I don't know though. If I work nights and you work days, one of us will always be asleep when the other is awake or working. I don't want to sound selfish, but Sara I want time with you too. I know part of parenting is making sacrifices, but do we really want to be on polar opposite schedules?" he asked.

"It's not like we want to be on opposite schedules, we just don't have much of a choice. One of us has to switch to days to be home with Bailey nights. You're the supervisor, so it makes sense for me to move schedules. Besides it would only be until next fall when Bailey starts school. Then I could switch back to nights or you could switch over to days," she shrugged.

"What other options do we have?" he thought aloud.

"I could take a year off," Sara said, "that would make Bailey happy and I would still get to see you."

"Hmm," Grissom pondered this for a moment, "I suppose we could do that. We're financially stable enough that we could do without your extra income for a while. We have our own house and no big bills to pay."

"I don't know that I'm wild about a year off work though," she sighed, "on the other hand, it could be better than not seeing each other much."

"I think that's probably our best option, but don't rush yourself into anything. We don't have to decide this minute. I made sure Bailey understands that we can't change our schedule immediately, but we are working on it," he told her.

"She's a great kid really," Sara said, "I think in time she will get to where she doesn't even remember her real parents, which is sad, but kids are so resilient."

"I don't think we'll ever let her completely forget her real parents. They were good people, I'm sure to have raised such a wonderful child for three years. Maybe we could do a little detective work into her family and create a memory book or something for her," Grissom suggested.

"Gil, that's a wonderful idea," Sara kissed him, "I'm sure there's still some family photos and stuff in storage. I know they donated a lot of the clothing and things to charity, but some things you just can't give away."

"I'll look into it later and see what I can find," Grissom said, "since it was my idea, I won't make you do the dirty work."

"Dirty work?" Sara raised an eyebrow.

"Think about it, it's been months since that stuff has been moved to storage, it's bound to be dusty as hell," he shrugged, "so it would be a little dirty moving boxes around."

"Wow, it just hit me that we've already been married for 3 months," she smiled, "and we've been parents for a month and a half now."

"We're not half bad at it either. We had a little trouble, but I think everything is looking good now," he said, "I think we will make good parents when we get this whole thing down."

"Speaking of being parents, I didn't tell you but I had a doctor's appointment of my own the other day. I've been trying to figure out how to tell you this," she started.

Grissom's jaw dropped, "Are you trying to tell me what I think you're trying to tell me?"

She nodded, "I'm pregnant. Six weeks."

He jumped out of his seat and pulled her up to her feet and hugged her, "I'm sorry I was such a jerk the last time this happened. It may have been a false alarm, but I didn't treat you right."

"It's okay, I forgave you a long time ago," she hugged him back.

"We're going to have our own baby," he smiled as he said this, "I can't believe it. Bailey will have a little brother or sister; I bet that will help her feel less lonely. She's used to having an older brother around."

"So I think it would be good to take a year off after all…or maybe longer. Our line of work is not exactly safe for a pregnant woman and the stress could be hazardous to the pregnancy. I'll want to spend some time with the baby after its born too," Sara said.

"Of course," he nodded, "are you going to put in your two week's notice now, then?"

She pondered this for a moment, "Yes I suppose I might as well make it official. Speaking of, we should probably head to work, huh?"

Grissom glanced at the clock, "Yeah, right about now that whole place is going to fall apart without me around."

Sara slapped his arm, "You're awfully full of yourself tonight."

"I just found out I'm going to be a father, I'm entitled to it!" he laughed.

They went to work and they couldn't hold the news from the team for long. Of course they had all been curious as to why their supervisor was late to work and it was no coincidence that his wife wasn't there either. The case load had been so light the few cases that had been on Grissom's desk were already taken care of, evidence was being processed or suspects were in custody. When the Grissoms arrived, they gathered all their friends into the break room.

"Guys, Sara and I have an announcement to make," Grissom smiled.

"Actually two," Sara added.

"Sara and I are going to have a baby!" Grissom couldn't wait a second longer to proclaim the good news.

"Congratulations!" Catherine told them.

"That's great news!" Nick agreed.

"I'm so happy for you," Warrick put in.

"Wait, what's the other announcement?" Greg was happy, but curious as to the other news.

"I'm putting my two week's notice and quitting," Sara said, "we had discussed me moving to dayshift because Bailey needs someone at home with her in the evenings other than Lindsey. She does a great job babysitting, but Bailey misses us being around. When I found out I was pregnant, I thought maybe taking a year or so off would be a good idea. Our job is not exactly safe and it's high stress which wouldn't be good for the health of the baby. So we decided I should just quit for a while."

"Seriously?" Nick asked.

"I hope you're joking," Greg seemed hurt by the news.

"I know it's not exactly easy for me to leave either guys, but I have to put the health of the baby and Bailey's best interests first. It's not like you'll never see me again. You know where I live and you're welcome to come visit us anytime. And I'll come back here and update you on how the pregnancy is going," Sara assured them.

"While I'm sad to see you going, I think it's great that you are putting your children first," Catherine hugged the brunette, "it's a sign of a great mother in the making."

"Thanks," Sara was touched.

"I mean it," Catherine said, "but if you ever have any questions about being pregnant, please call me because I've been there."

"I'm with Catherine on this one, I'm going to miss you like crazy, but good for you," Warrick put in.

"I will visit you so much, you'll get sick of me," Greg grinned, "it's gonna suck without you around though Sara."

"Yeah, we're really going to miss you," Nick smiled sadly.

"Geez guys," Sara fought back tear, "you're not making this easy on me, but I need to take the time off."

The rest of shift was fairly uneventful and the team went out for a quick breakfast after work. Sara and Grissom wanted to go home and tell Bailey the good news too.

"Good morning," Sara greeted their daughter.

"Hi mommy, hi daddy!" Bailey hugged each of them in turn.

"Thanks Lindsey, you will not be needed on an every day basis in a couple of weeks," Grissom told her as he paid her for the night, "Sara's decided to take some time off work, but we'll want you to still baby-sit from time to time."

"All right, I really like to take care of Bailey, so I'll be glad to still sit for you sometimes," Lindsey said as Catherine picked her up.

"Bailey, your mommy and I have some news for you," Grissom said.

"Is mommy going to be home at nights with me?" she asked hopefully.

"Better than that," Sara said, "I'm only working for a couple more weeks and then I'll be home all day with you. I'm quitting my job."

"Yes!" Bailey couldn't contain her excitement, "we can play games all day!"

"There's more," Grissom told her, "you are going to have a new little brother or sister. Sara is going to have a baby."

"When?" Bailey asked.

"Not for a while yet," Sara laughed, "it takes about 9 months for a baby to be born."

"Wow, cool," Bailey said, "I get to be a big sister and I get to have more time with my mommy."

"That's right," Sara swept her into a hug, "I will be able to spend more time with you while daddy works."

It finally seemed that everything was falling into place for the Grissom family. They were going to have a baby and Bailey was happy with the new arrangement for Sara to quit her job. Grissom didn't mind Sara deciding to stay at home because in their line of work he would've been worried about her constantly. As long as Sara was happy to take the time off, it looked like everything was going to turn out for the new family in the long run.

* * *

A/N: Damn, what a long strange trip it's been…or something like that. Lol, I can't believe it's really over, but yes this is the end of Broken. Now before you get too upset, just know I think I can envision a sequel in the works…I just want to take a little break before I start working on that because I have seriously been at work on this story for months. Thank you all so much one last time for reading and reviewing. You guys are the greatest and I will miss reading your reviews. 


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